Hikigaya Komachi's Worry
by SnowPlow
Summary: It's not criminal how cute Komachi is. What is criminal is if there's TWO people that are as cute as her.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue: Memoranda are secretive because of just how ugly they can be.**_

There's someone that I'm close with.

Although, even saying that is already an understatement. After all, we were literally bonded by blood.

Fifteen or sixteen years were long periods of time. It was more than long enough to witness all of the good sides, the bad sides, the joyous sides, and the traumatic sides of each other. We don't worry that one of us will drift away on our own to the point of becoming strangers. We only worry about being torn apart by unforeseen circumstances. Something stochastic .

However, not everyone who my brother has known has been with him for that long. His past classmates have only been in contact with him for a year to three years at the most. That amount of time was not nearly long enough. They could not see past the superficialities imposed upon him. Thus, he was rejected over and over.

My brother is unreliable. When faced with a problem, he would seek out the most efficient, most effective method. That often meant that it could be vile, repulsive, and disdainful. It would show no consideration to others. Neither would his methods even spare consideration towards himself. Afterwards, everyone would be hurt, and the ones that were closest to him would be hurt the most. But he could not comprehend that for the longest time. That was why my brother was unreliable.

I worry about him a lot. He does not realize it himself, but the reason why he would go so far, even to the point of hurting himself, was because he was kind. After being faced with torment by his peers all of these years, his only way of doing things became cruel efficiency. It became the only way he could display his kindness. I worry that one day, he might try to be the kindest once again, and therefore, once again commit the cruelest act: not coming home.

I also had a different kind of worry. Luckily, it's getting closer and closer to being a thing of the past! These days, my brother is very, _very_ close to certain girls.

One of them is, like, deredere for the most part. She's a real sweetie, a big light bulb, but she is also a big dummy. She (well, her dog) and my brother were wrapped up in an accident way back. I could understand why she held a fascination for him for so long (and the candy she gave me was pretty tasty as well). These days, though, that fascination has grown more and more, and she has become a very big presence in my brother's heart. Not to mention that she's probably one of the reasons why he's a lot less gloomy. But it's still awkward.

One of them is, like, kuudere for the most part. She's the quiet and intelligent type, although she is a little headstrong and likes to trade verbal blows with my brother. And, she is honest to a fault. When I first met her, I could immediately see why she found him interesting and why he found her to be a breath of fresh air. I don't know if my brother could see why she was acting so self-confident in the beginning, but I was sure that he found her strength and honesty beautiful. And, I was sure that she admired his ability to be true, even if it meant that it would be cruel. They would never admit it, but they hold each other in extremely high regard. Almost unhealthily.

And the third girl. She is sly, slightly clingy, seemingly whimsical, but actually cunning. She was definitely cute, and almost maddeningly so. He would be reluctant to say it, but my brother was surely caught by her charms. Yet, as much as he was trapped by her, she was trapped by him. After being helped by him once, and after miraculously leaping right through the imposed superficiality, she could not help but keep coming back for more of her senpai. I was sure that, being the older brother that he was, my brother could not help but lift some of her burdens. And, I was sure that, from the moment that they first met, that my brother could analyze her perfectly, and that, later on, she became able to understand my brother.

That girl was the only one that I was dissatisfied with. Her personality had far too many overlaps with mine. One of the only few differences between her and me was that I was nicer. At one point, she was even described as an "uncute Komachi".

It was a strange feeling. Even though I was happy with him getting to know the other two, warning bells sounded within me with this girl.

Was it because of her cunningness? No, I knew that something like that would never be a threat for my brother.

No, I knew the real reason. The other two would never push him on. They would leave him some breathing space because they knew what he was used to. She lacked that kind of restriction.

Therefore, I worried. I worried about where she might pull him to. I worried about just how far he would go and just how far she would take him. I was worried that when he crosses the line, she doesn't let go and that he doesn't wander back to where he was before.

I was worried that she would become a place of respite for him. If that was the case, then his reason to come home would be lost.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1: Hikigaya Komachi is cute, but another person is cute too.**_

"I've been meaning to ask for a while, but do you make that yourself, Hikigaya-san?"

Kawasaki Taishi pointed at my bento box jam-packed with brightly coloured vegetables and deep-fried shrimp.

"Yep. My parents are waaaaaaay too busy with work, so it's up to me to make my own lunch," I told him, "Ah, and sometimes I make some for Onii-chan as well."

"...Is that so? Onii-san sure is lucky," he remarked in admiration.

The classroom was wrapped with a cozy atmosphere during the bustling lunch hours. As the starving students indulged in their sought-after meals, their satisfaction and joy would easily invite conversation. I mean, there's nothing like sharing a meal with your friends!

"Hikigaya-san's bento? I want some. Give me a shrimp, please," said Mia, a girl with black braids and the sensitivity of a caveman.

She reached with her chopsticks to my lunch to steal one of my precious shrimp. I fought her back in a duel with my own chopsticks as if we were fencing. My technique, reinforced from years of sibling rivalry, turned out to be superior, and I knocked her chopsticks out of her hands and they clattered onto the floor. Success!

"Hikigaaaaayaaaaaa-saaaaaan!" cried out Mia in despair.

"W-Was that really necessary?" nervously asked Taishi-kun who was watching that unfold.

"Eh, I'm just kinda hungry today, so I'm not about to give away my food," I said while shrugging.

"H-Hikigaya-chan, you shouldn't act like that..." softly spoke Yuuki-san, who, by the way, I would tooootally like to abduct and have her become my little sister!

Envious stares pierced both at me and at my lunch box from all directions. It was making it rather uncomfortable to eat.

"Geez, you guys. Y'all should've just made your own bento or asked one of your parents or siblings to do it for you," I groaned.

I glanced at Taishi-kun, and he tilted his head in confusion.

"Like you!" I exclaimed, "Why don't you just ask your older sister to make lunch for you!? Your lunches are always so plain."

The ham-and-cheese sandwich in his hands was so drab and colourless that the eating experience would probably be better if one would close their eyes first.

Taishi-kun scratched his head and spoke uneasily, "She does. I mean, everyday. The reason why it's so plain is because that's all she knows how to do..."

"Ah..."

I sent him a pitying stare. Kawasaki Saki's culinary skills weren't particularly high, according to some unintentional, random comments that Taishi-kun, and, surprisingly, my own brother makes occasionally. Also, Saki-san tended to overwork herself in studying and at jobs to pay for education. She probably wouldn't have the time or energy to hone her cooking ability.

"It's okay, Taishi-kun. If you think about all the care that your older sister puts into your lunch, I'm sure it will make it seem tastier!" I said, trying to cheer him up, "The fact that she's doing it every day even though she's so busy makes me go kyaaaaa!"

"I know. I get that she's really looking out for me. Although, sometimes it is annoying. But what can you do? One time I told her that she didn't have to make it for me every day, but she got the wrong idea and got hurt because she thought that I didn't like it," Taishi-kun spoke fondly.

After he said that, he bit into his ham-and-cheese sandwich. It truly was not something to be wowed over. Yet, it was cut into the shape of a cat's face. Even if she wasn't good at making tasty food, she at least tried to amuse her little brother in his busy life.

"How nice... I kinda want an onee-san as well..." I muttered to no one in particular.

My older brother does take care of me as well, but it just isn't the same. Because weren't the same gender, I could not confide in him for some things. He wouldn't be able to understand. Actually, because of how he's alone all the time, I doubt he would be able to understand normal things in general. Wait, does that mean that I take care of him more than he takes care of me?

"Oh no! That means that I never really did get to experience the care of a reliable older sibling at all!"

"What are you even talking about?" Taishi-kun said in astonishment.

Not good, not good. I mean, my brother does pamper me, but it's not the right kind of pampering. Like, if I had an older sister, I would be able to go out with her a lot to shop or to cook with her or whatever. My brother isn't that great at cooking, so it'd be fun if I had an older sister to teach me a few new tricks. Then, at night, we would be able to chat for a long time about all sorts of things, stuff that my brother would, after hearing it, probably cause him to stare at the ceiling in boredom!

"That's whyyyyy I want Onii-chan to hurry up and get with one of them already," I moaned.

"Who's 'them'?" asked Taishi-kun.

"I know he's always thinking about them — Yui-san and Yukino-san," I said.

"Those two? I haven't seen them for a long time," said Taishi-kun with a thoughtful look, "I mean, Onii-san is like _that_ , so I'm sure he thinks he's pretty lucky, despite what he says. But what do they think? I don't know how he can get along with that strict Yukinoshita-san, and Yuigahama-san is a whole different matter altogether."

"You have no idea, Taishi-kun," I said with glittering eyes, "You have no idea."

With all the parties and the get-togethers like at New Year's, not to mention their daily meet-ups after school for clubs, they're all definitely close to each other. Especially during December, it seems they took a drastic step. Their atmosphere was somewhat different when we all met up for Christmas.

"Basically, it's a miracle!" I exclaimed, "Like, it's the kind of surprising development that you would get in a light novel or something."

"So basically, he's in the middle of a romantic comedy or something?" excitedly asked Taishi-kun, "Does that mean that even someone like me has a chance of getting a girlfriend in high school?"

"Kawasaki-kun, no," piped up Mia, "Going to high school won't instantly make you any less spineless or cowardly."

"...Is that how everyone sees me as?" groaned Taishi-kun.

I added fuel to the fire, "Don't worry, Taishi-kun! No matter how cowardly you are, I will always be your _friend_!"

"Not that again..." Taishi-kun hung his head and rapidly ruffled his own hair.

Mia and I laughed heartily at Taishi-kun's misery. It was routine to bully him. Friendly bullying.

Yuuki-san, who I would willingly kidnap and force her to become my little sister, attempted to soothe him, "N-Now, now. Things will be a lot different later on so however you are now doesn't mean that you will always be that way in the future."

Taishi-kun faced me with serious eyes, "Hikigaya-san, how was Onii-san like in middle school?"

I immediately replied, "Exactly the same as now except that he still had some hope."

Every time I thought about his past and how it affected me, my heart would wrench in pain and embarrassment. Oh, the embarrassment! At one point, I almost wanted to stop associating with my brother for a while so that I wouldn't fall prey to rumours and teasing as well, but when I saw his broken face, those thoughts were instantly cast away and I immediately decided that I would always be there for him if he got bullied. I'm such a good sister.

Of course, at my words, Taishi-kun's HP immediately dropped to zero and he lost every last bit of optimism. He sprawled out on the table, waiting for someone to give him a phoenix down of comfort.

"By the way, Hikigaya-san," said Mia, "These Yui-san and Yukino-san, about how old are they?"

"Around the same age as Onii-chan. Why?" I asked in confusion.

Mia put her thumb on her chin, showing that she was thinking about something. She paused for a moment of thought. Then, she nodded to herself and began talking again.

"Is that so? That's fine, then," muttered Mia, "The thing is, though, when you think of an 'onee-san', you're probably assuming that she'll be at least as old as your brother, if not older. It's true in your case, but technically, it doesn't have to be so. Since you're two years apart from your brother, a girl can still be older than you while being younger than him."

I was even more confused, so I spoke in an incredulous tone, "Maybe. But what does that have to do with anything?"

In a matter-of-factly tone, Mia clarified, "In that case, though you would be gaining an older sister, he would kinda be, in a way, gaining a little sister. Well, that's kind've a weird way to put it, since she would be his girlfriend and all, but you get the idea, right?"

I guess she's right. I've never thought about that before, though.

"Would you be fine with that, Hikigaya Komachi the brocon?" teasingly sneered Mia.

It seems that we have a mix-up of priorities here.

"If you're going that far, that means that it would not exclude the chance that he could hook up with someone my age or even younger. But what's important is that Onii-chan meets someone dear to him, who can understand him. My whimsical desires shouldn't be what's important," I spoke in a slightly more serious tone.

"Even so, are you fine with it?" pushed on Mia.

"M-Mia-chan, what are you saying!?" gasped Yuuki-san, "Komachi-chan, don't listen to her."

I smiled warmly at Yuuki-san for her consideration. However, I shook my head. My answer had long been decided.

I stated with a shrug, "Ultimately, if Onii-chan's happy, then I'm happy."

At that moment, the bell sounded, signalling the end of lunch. Yuuki-san, Mia, and Taishi-kun scrambled back to their original seats. Since they decided on their own to gather around my own desk, I did not have to move, so I simply gathered up all of my boxes and utensils and put them back in my bag.

I did not know if Mia truly meant what she said. I did not know if she was speaking in mere jest or if she was being completely serious.

The next class was Japanese. As the teacher was writing on the board, I thought about how annoyingly difficult that this class will be.

Speaking of which, my brother was top-tier in terms of Japanese. He even got third overall at his school when it came to it. I should definitely ask him for help later.

And then, I wondered if there was someone else out there, who was struggling with something, who would also unabashedly go to my brother for help. And, I wondered if he would also rub their head until their hair became messy and their smile became wild.

* * *

The pot of beef curry had reached a boil with the vigour of a rampaging child. I turned down the heat to let it simmer, as if soothing a child.

The Hikigaya kitchen was a space that was, at some point in the past, used by my mother. However, as the additional financial burden was born, the position as head chef gradually became delegated to myself. I have to be responsible for myself and lighten the load on my parents, you know!

As for why the main chef of the household did not fall on my older brother, let's just subtly say that he sucks a lot. Yes, that was being subtle because if I were to describe it in full, it would be even worse.

Well, that's speaking in relative terms. My brother does cook occasionally, and it is edible, but his skill is far below mine. That's okay, though. His bright and cheery smile after eating my scrambled eggs is the perfect pick-me-up in the morning! I just have to avoid looking at his eyes, because their rottenness is a real downer.

I left the stove and skipped over to the table where I had laid out my books. Curry does take a while to make, so I might as well get this stupid studying out of the way. I can use the curry as an end reward, a motivation, as well.

I cracked open my science textbook. Across the top of the page, in big, bold font, were the words "Eukaryotic Microbiology". Directly under that were gigantic columns of text so small that I had to squint and shoddy pictures of who knows what kind of small, circular, sometimes hairy life forms. The assignment was to read several pages of this boring nonsense.

Aaaaaaaand my motivation dropped to absolute zero. I plopped my front body on top of the textbook. Even though the pages were cold and hard, I felt bored enough to sleep.

"Th-This is why I want an onee-san. She would make this more bearable for me," I muttered to myself.

I continued to lay down on top of my books. Instead of serving as a medium to transfer knowledge, the books became a pillow substitute. Well, more like a sleeping pill. I only needed to glance at the words before I felt the seduction of sleep.

Flagella are microtubular—

Something 9+2.

K-Komachi can't think anymore. Komachi is dooooooooozing awaaaaaaaaaay.

Clatter! Something like wood impacting the wall sounded from the front of the house. It probably didn't come from the actions of a thief, but the person who did it was still trash. Nincompoop even.

"I'm back," the smasher-of-walls called out.

Ohoho, guess who decided to show his face? I dashed from my seat, knocking down a few books in the process. I headed toward the front entrance to confront the creepy person who had just arrived home.

"Welcome back, Onii-chan! But you're late today again!"

My older brother, Hikigaya Hachiman, scratched his cheek nervously. His rotten eyes uncomfortably shifted back and forth between the floor and the ceiling.

"Well, some stuff came up," he spoke vaguely.

In the past, I really hated coming home to an empty house. Therefore, my brother would, from then on, get home before me just so that I wouldn't be lonely. Recently, though, he's been violating that ritual.

"Well, that's okay," I spoke with a grin.

I knew exactly why he was so late. He only could come home earlier in the past because he had no friends or obligations. It's different now, though. After all, he has Yukino-san and Yui-san! That makes me super happy!

And, well, I'm not that childish anymore. It's not like an empty house is that big a deal for me anymore. Besides, I know that it would definitely be repopulated by my brother and parents eventually.

"Well, uh, you have no school tomorrow for some reason, right? We need your help," said my brother.

O-Onii-chan is asking me for help? I'm so flattered!

"Well, that's what Yuigahama suggested, and it seemed that Yukinoshita was fine with it too. You okay with it?"

Those two!? Help me! I'm dying of happiness!

"Of course, of course! Of course I'm okay with it!" I exclaimed.

"Uh, this isn't a good place to talk about the details. Is that curry I smell? Let's talk it over dinner," my brother suggested.

We migrated over to the kitchen-living room space. While I skipped and skated along the hardwood floor, my brother's steps were rather heavy.

I told my brother to sit down while I prepared the meal. Onto plates, I scooped out plenty of rice for myself, and even more for my brother, who, being a boy, has a huge appetite. I spooned the curry over the rice. The rich and potent smell of special herbs and spices tickled my nose.

I carried the plates and cutlery over to the table. Just before I laid my brother's plate in front of him, I caught him heaving a sigh.

I sat down across from him as usual after putting my plate in its place and distributing the cutlery. Unusually, my brother was looking rather disinterested in the food.

"What's wrong?" I asked before I began eating.

"Well, remember the Christmas event between our school and Kaihin Sogo High?" said my brother as he poked at a carrot with his spoon.

"Yeah. You said they were a real pain or something. Like they wouldn't listen or decide on anything," I said between my bites.

My brother stabbed the spoon straight in the centre of the curry-covered rice and stated with annoyance, "We're at it again. We got another event to COLLABORATE with them."

He shoved whatever made it onto his spoon into his mouth and mashed the food in his mouth without closing it.

"Sounds tough," I said in monotone, not really sympathizing with him at all.

Sorry, but because I wasn't there when you talked with each other, your sob story doesn't really mean anything to me.

"And now, he's trying to involve everyone again. And by everyone I mean colleges, universities, middle schools, and elementary schools. Aw geez!"

My brother slammed down his spoon and ruffled up his own hair in frustration. Was such an act popular with boys now?

"What the hell's a community event anyway? What's with the need to spread PEACE AND PROSPERITY to our CITY FELLOWS? Won't corporate slaves feel the most comfort sitting down at home instead of walking and standing outside all day?" my brother lamented and flailed loudly.

"There he goes again..." I tiredly spoke.

"I don't want to do this at all..." he spoke, simmering down.

Without spirit, he resumed eating his meal in peace. After a few bites, his lethargic pace began speeding up.

"Oh, this is quite good," he commented between gratuitous bites.

It seemed that he already brightened up. His previous frown had already spread into a curry-covered smile.

"Onii-chan, you're way too simple," I said with unamused eyes, "So, what did you need me for? Helping out with cooking like last time?"

"It would be great if you could, but you'll also need to take care of the kids," my brother explained, "Tamanawa's got the elementary school kids to do something for us again, and, given the success of the Christmas event, even more kids are joining in. We desperately need help."

"Practice for another play?" I asked.

"Well, yeah. I don't even know what it is yet, though. We'll decide tomorrow in a meeting."

"How does me not having school tomorrow tie into this?"

"So that we can meet up as soon as possible for the meeting and so that everyone involved can get a good idea of what's going on. And don't you want to take another look around the school that you'll be at for the next three years?"

My brother smirked at me as he said those words.

I groaned, "I don't really know if I'll get in."

"No, you'll definitely get in," he assured, "My geniusness has surely rubbed off on you. And take a look at Yuigahama. I know you're at least three times as intelligent as her, if not seven times."

"Even though I should be happy about what you said, I'm feeling a lot of pity for Yui-san right now," I said as I placed my face in my hand.

The two of us got more into the meal after that, and the conversation began to wither. Even so, spending time with another person, even in silence, seriously makes your heart feel light and bouncy. That's a good thing too because if my brother ever finds some time alone with Yukino-san, I bet those two will exchange a maximum of twenty words, given how the two of them are.

Once my plate became clearer and my belly stretched more, I once again opened my mouth for a reason other than swallowing.

"By the way, Onii-chan, a lot of the requests that you've been doing these days are for the student council. Is there a reason why?" I asked out of curiosity.

He shrugged and spoke in exasperation, "Don't ask me. Who knows what's going on in Isshiki's head."

"The student council president? Sure doesn't sound so hot for a person like that to be relying on you guys so much."

"Even if she doesn't have a request, Isshiki always manages to sneak out of the student council and go to the Service Club for no reason. Weird girl."

I spoke with a low voice, "Wasn't it your idea to have her become president? Take responsibility, Onii-chan."

"Please. She's been telling me the same thing over and over," my brother said with a cynical laugh.

"Train her then."

For some reason my brother widened his eyes and stumbled specifically at that phrase.

"T-Training skills, right," he spoke hesitantly.

By this point in time, both of us had completely cleared our plates. I stood up and began gathering everything up to bring to the sink.

My brother stood up as well, blocked my hands with his, and said "Hang on, I got this."

"No, no. You must be tired, you poor thing," I spoke in an exaggeratedly grating voice, "Onii-chan, last time they were waaaaay too dirty after you tried washing them. Like, I put my finger on a spoon and it was still oily."

The kind of things that my brother were good mostly involved thinking, rather than doing. That was one of the reasons why he was pretty smart and why the kind of club he's in suited him, for the most part, decently. It's just that he tends to half-ass things when it came to manual labour. It's why he has never kept a part time job for very long.

"Leave it to Komachi!" I triumphantly exclaimed.

I beamed at him to show that I truly was okay with doing it all. He nodded.

"In that case, if you need me, I need to keep Vita-chan company after neglecting her for so long," said my brother.

"Yeah, yeah, go on and play video games while this poor little sister slaves away for the lazy older brother," I said while shooing him away with flicking gestures.

"Why are you contradicting yourself? But hey, to work is to lose, and I'm always up for working less."

With that worthless final comment, he exited the room. Rapid stomping echoed from the stairwell, revealing just how trashy my older brother was for wanting to play video games so badly. But wait, I like playing video games too, so does that means I'm trash as well? Oh no, Komachi is going down the wrong path!

I piled up the larger things to be washed like the pot beside the sink, while I chucked the smaller utensils like forks into the sink. I filled the sink with water and mixed it with soap until it was nice and frothy.

"Uh, I don't really like doing things like this very much either," I muttered to myself.

But hey! If it was my role, if it was something that I could do, if it was something that no one else could do, then I would gladly take it up. I kinda wanted to reliable like that. I wanted to make sure that Hikigaya Komachi was a person who could not only stand up on her own, but also use her own power to support others when necessary.

I wanted to make sure that even if something really troublesome arises, I would definitely be able to help get rid of that troublesome thing. I don't want to feel powerless. Not again.

I began washing the dishes and putting the washed dishes in the alternate sink to be rinsed later. When those are rinsed, I will neatly arrange them on the rack with sufficient space between everything so that drying is faster. Tidiness and cleanliness are wonderful things. It's good if everything is in order.

Swishy swish. With a dishwater-soaked towel in hand, I wiped a spoon from top to bottom. While it was formerly laden with chunks of meat and drenched with the sauce of the curry, it was now completely shiny and clean.

I am so good at this. I could do this all day.

Wait, didn't I just say to myself that I hated doing something like this? But once I got going, it doesn't seem so bad anymore, and I would even feel frustrated if I had to abruptly stop and do something else for some reason. I-Is this kind of mental momentum why corporate slaves aren't super dissatisfied with their boring jobs? I think I might understand why my brother desperately hates working so much.

Speaking of my brother, he sure has become more and more meddlesome over the past year. That's almost fully due to his club activities, but I'm sure he could have refused way more requests. Yet, he hasn't had a huge rejection rate, from what I've heard from him anyway.

There's just one little thing that I feel is a bit wrong, though.

Isshiki Iroha.

That name has started to leak out of my brother's mouth every now and then, and with increasing frequency. It's the same with Yui-san and Yukino-san, but I definitely felt that there was something different with regards to Isshiki.

Just who exactly was Isshiki anyway? What was she really like? I only knew her name, her position at their high school, that she was a year younger than my brother, and, from my brother's vague descriptions, that she was rather sly, mischievous and cute. Yet, way back, he had once described her as uncute as well. I've also only seen her once or twice as I helped out during the Christmas event, but I didn't speak to her at all and I thought nothing of it at the time.

Images popped into my head. A girl clinging on to the arm of my brother. A girl playfully slapping his shoulder as he frowned in displeasure. A girl looking depressed, followed by my brother offering her a few ridiculous words that would have not been comforting to any other person.

Those images were unpleasant.

They were not in the least bit unique.


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: A tainted lens distorts the image, but the imperfections cannot be noticed until the glasses are taken off.**_

Actually, I don't really want to talk about what happened[1].

End of Chapter 2

* * *

 **Footnotes**

[1]"Thank you very much, mister!"

"No, no. Thank you, little miss. Always good to see one so young and spry, yet still polite."

Utilizing my own, hard-earned cash, I decided to splurge on various snacks at the nearby convenience store. It was a bit of a big deal for me to be visiting a high school as a middle school student. In my head, I knew that high school students and high school itself wasn't a world of a leap from middle school students and the school itself, but I just couldn't help doing at least this much.

I exited the store and bounced along the pavement in the direction of Sobu. The days were finally getting warmer, after all of those weeks of biting frost. Even though I was swinging around an appreciable weight in cookies and chips, I did not feel a pressing need to rush over to Sobu as fast as possible. I could enjoy the walk for once.

Well, if I got over there right this instant, their classes would still be in session and I would be forced to wait somewhere anyway.

I liked the slight breeze that ruffled through my hair as I walked. The bending back of hair at the roots makes my head feel all delightfully tingly. Was some chemical being released? Maybe I could ask Yukino-san about that.

A ray of sunlight shone directly in my eyes, blinding me. I covered my eyes with my free hand reflexively before looking to the side. My eyes met with a signboard. Sobu High.

I turned my eyes back to the front. With my hand blocking the part of my vision that had the sun, I could clearly see the entire campus. Even though the school's size was not much more than my middle school's size, it was like a demon lord's castle.

I gulped for some reason. I-I need to get used to this because it wouldn't be good for my heart if I kept feeling like this after entering high school.

I breathed in and out and shook the bag of snacks in my hand to confirm to myself that I had a large stock of items to tackle the upcoming battles. My reliance on items made me feel like an alchemist of Arland.

It seemed that I arrived early after all. There wasn't a single youthful soul wandering around the outside of the school. That was, save for a familiar teacher rummaging around the inside of her car in the parking lot. I walked up to her.

"Hiratsuka-sensei, hello!"

Hiratsuka-sensei peeked her head out of the opened door and looked at me in surprise.

"Why, if it isn't Hikigaya's little sister. What brings you here?"

I replied with a sunny smile, "Onii-chan asked me to help out with the event that the student council's holding. Look here! I brought battle provisions."

I held the bulging bag of ten thousand calories in front of her face.

"I see. It must be pretty bad this time as well," begrudgingly spoke Hiratsuka-sensei, "I know that Isshiki agreed to it because Kaihin Sogo High would cover some of the budget, but you know how it turned out during the Christmas season. Well, at least that other time with the cooking was better."

"Ahaha. Well, it's good to look around at my future school too," I added, "I mean, at least I hope it's my future school."

I looked downwards. Hiratsuka-sensei, after removing a gigantic box of instant ramen from the inside of her car and stepping out, placed a firm hand on my shoulder.

"No problem. You've had your brother to help you out. I hate to admit it with all those weird essays he writes, but he's one of my best students. The Hikigaya name is an intelligent name."

I spoke hoarsely, "I-Is that how it is? Suddenly, the pressure is a lot higher."

"You will be fine. Actually, I want you to get in. If I could mark essays of similar quality as your brother but without the headache-inducing content, then I would be very happy," Hiratsuka-sensei warmly spoke.

Stop it! I don't like all this pressure! I feel like I'm sitting at the bottom of the Pacific.

But, if I did make it into Sobu, that would be pretty nice. I would have plenty of things to look forward to. Taking a class with Hiratsuka-sensei, who I was already acquainted with, would be delightful.

The bell rang at that moment, cutting our conversation short. Immediately following it was the increasing volume of murmurs of the dismissed students that could be heard even from the outside.

"I guess it's time for me to get going. See you later, Hiratsuka-sensei! And don't eat all those instant noodles all at once because it'll take away your beauty!"

She gazed down at the box in her hand with stony eyes and muttered, "Beauty, huh? Ah, what's the point even if I lose it? I mean, it already isn't helping me find a good husband..."

Someone, please take her already. She's a maiden at heart, I swear! At this rate, my brother will eye her wallet and make her his so that he can fulfill his dreams of being a house husband!

* * *

How awkward. As I walked down the hallway, curious gazes pierced at me from all directions. I know that a cute middle school girl such as myself walking around in a high school was rare, but come on. I-I'm sweating pretty hard right now.

Luckily, both the stares and the curious chatters gradually lessened as I made my way to the Service Club room. I guess that the part of the school where the Service Club was at had few other after-school clubs, as well as it being far away from the front entrance, where most of the go-homers went to.

I arrived in front of the door to the Service Club. Above it was a sign stating the room number. For some reason, it was adorned with a gigantic multitude of random stickers. Was this allowed?

Faint chatters could be heard from the other side of the door. It sounds like everyone's already here. I arrived at a good time.

I knocked on the door.

"Please come in," said a soft and quiet female voice.

Well then, it was time to give my dear friends and family my best greeting.

I thrust open the door so strongly that I created a miniature gust from it.

"YA-"

At the far end of the table was Yukino-san with a book in her hand that was wrapped with a woven cat-themed cover. Near her was Yui-san, who had bitten into the ear of a cat-shaped cookie. Both of them looked toward me in surprise.

"HAL-"

My brother was seated across from Yukino-san at the other end of the table. He twisted his body and received me with an expectant expression. He also had a book out, but it was currently laying on the table open and page-down.

"Lo?"

To the right of my brother was a flaxen-haired girl. Her face was clearly impish even though her mouth was slightly opened and her eyes widened in bewilderment at my entrance. In her left hand was a small mirror, which she was holding at roughly face-level. I was not familiar with this girl.

Yui-san excitedly bolted up and greeted me back, "Komachi-chan, yahallo!"

Yukino-san put down her book and greeted me as well, "Good afternoon."

"Sup," the crudest one in the room curtly spoke.

"Ah, hello there," spoke the flaxen-haired girl, "Senpai, could this be...?"

"Yeah, that's Komachi. My little sister," replied my crude brother.

Her eyes darted back and forth between me and my brother. Then, she tilted her head in confusion.

"That's weird. I thought Senpai's sister would be more quiet and shy and totally standoffish."

"What the heck do you take me for?" my brother grumbled.

More like, what the heck do you take _me_ for?

That girl put a finger to her lip, and her mouth stretched into a crafty smile. She gave my body a full, careful scan. It was only after that when she put on a more friendly expression and introduced herself.

"I'm Isshiki Iroha, the student council president."

"Ah, well, nice to meet you," I said as I bowed.

I skipped over to the table and placed my bag of snacks on top.

"Are you aware of what we're doing?" asked Yukino-san.

I replied, "Yes. We're having a meeting for the community event, right? In this room?"

I began removing the snacks from inside and carefully spreading them out over the table. The table quickly became cluttered up with colourful arrays of red candies and brown cookies.

"Actually, we're not having it here," spoke my brother.

"Huh?"

I stopped my hands mid-action.

"We're going over to the student council room first, little sis!" said Isshiki.

She put her mirror back in the bag. My brother also put his book in his bag. Yui-san gathered her things and Yukino-san began tidying up a tea set.

"You see, Komachi-chan, we had a bit of time before the meeting, so we decided to wait here for you," explained Yui-san.

"That's right. We thought Hikigaya-kun might've at least told you the where the Service Club is, though we also thought that he completely forgot to tell you where the student council room is," chimed in Yukino-san.

My brother blinked rapidly a few times.

"I'm sure I told you last night, right?"

"Nope. Not at all."

Isshiki gave my brother a disappointed stare.

"Seeeeee, Senpai? You're only best at remembering the worthless things."

"Leave me alone," my brother retorted, "If I'm good at remembering something, then that should automatically mean that my memory is good in general. I can't only remember the worthless things and not remember the things that have worth. It doesn't work like that."

Yukino-san pressed her temple with two fingers and spoke in exasperation, "As expected of the failure of a science student. I suggest you look up what memory bias is."

"See, Senpai? Seeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Senpai?"

Her disappointed appeared to have levelled up after receiving some backing from Yukino-san. She stood up and leaned in front of my sitting brother as if cornering him. He quickly averted his eyes.

"Th-Then, how do you define something as worthless? One man's trash is another man's treasure," he hurriedly spoke.

"Everything you say is like trash to me," said Yukino-san as she nodded to herself.

"Yep, yep. Hikki is, like, gross, just like trash," agreed Yui-san.

Uwaaaaaaa. So harsh. My brother's eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"Give me on example of something trashy that I say," demanded my brother.

Yukino-san went first, "Your dream of being a house-husband."

Yui-san went second, "All those weird stories of your past."

I also had something to say about Onii-trash. I opened my mouth to give my own verbal thrashing in this Hachiman-bashing session.

"Onii-"

"Remembering my birthday and randomly bringing it up," spoke Isshiki.

But before I could do so, I was interrupted. My mouth hung uselessly open and I made an embarrassing sputtering noise as I was forced to cut myself off and swallow back my words.

Not stepping down, my brother began firing back, "To work is to lose. You become a mere cog in the wheel of the economy, and you're forced to abandon your own enjoyment and purpose for the sake of working for your firm. That's why being a house-husband is best. I will retain my joy. Also, my past doesn't matter at all. N-Not in the slightest."

He slipped up as he said those last lines. Noticing that he was faltering, he coughed once and gazed right at Isshiki to launch a counterargument against her.

"Birthdays are the one of the most important part of the year. It's a day to have an excuse to eat cake and to leech some money from your parents. Without birthdays, the only other times you can get money from your parents are during holidays like Christmas. That's why birthdays are important. That's why even your birthday is important, Isshiki. There's no way it's worthless."

"O-Oh, is that so. Then, I guess my birthday is important after all," timidly spoke Isshiki.

Isshiki shied away from my brother and looked at the floor while rubbing her hands. Her cheeks were faintly dyed pink.

"I thought it was already gross enough that he remembered her birthday that other time, but this is even worse!" recoiled Yui-san, with her chair making large squeaks as she backed away.

Yukino-san's smile was cold enough to cause frostbite.

"Hikigaya-kun, perhaps it would have been easier on your parents if your birthday didn't exist. That is, it would be better if you weren't born."

Amidst the disdain from the girls his own age and the embarrassment of the girl a year younger than him, my brother merely scratched his head, as if communicating that it couldn't be helped.

As for me, I was neither grossed out nor embarrassed. Rather, I found myself glaring at Isshiki.

I was sure that she was trying to be coy. She was putting on an act. I knew because of my plentiful experiences in dealing with bewitching and self-seeking girls like her. Of course, the perception of such a thing should be an ability of lots of girls, including Yui-san, who was very outgoing, and Yukino-san, who was smart enough to deduce things.

They should know, but why were they okay with it?

Standing up and looking at the incompletely distributed snacks on the table, my brother spoke, "Oh, about those snacks, Komachi. It's nice that you bought some for us, but—"

"But I had already brought a tooooon as well," interrupted Isshiki, "What do we do?"

Rather than looking at me, Isshiki turned her upturned, appealing eyes toward my brother.

"Well, since Isshiki said we have enough, you can just leave the bag here, Komachi. You won't have to lug it around that way," he suggested while simultaneously trying to avoid Isshiki's gaze by unsteadily looking at the bag.

I also turned my eyes toward the bag. What should have been an act of courtesy had been rendered into something superfluous and unnecessary. Begrudgingly and silently, I quickly gathered the snacks that I had withdrawn and chucked them right back into the bag.

"Soooorry about that," — Isshiki's tone was fraught with so much sugar that it made me feel gross and sticky — "We really should have contacted you about it."

I highly doubted that Isshiki Iroha, whom I had just met, had my phone number. Plus, my actions were, more or less, unprecedented. There was no way that she or the others could have predicted that I would be bringing snacks.

That's why her words served no other purpose other than to be grating towards me.

"It's fine."

I simply spoke that without even sparing Isshiki a single glance. I sped up my pace of gathering, not caring if I crushed a few cookies in the process.

I spotted my brother make a movement towards me, perhaps with the intention of helping me out, but I had already finished by the time he did so.

"We should get going," stated Yukino-san.

Her cleanup duties had finished and her bag was already hung over her shoulders. Everyone else was ready too.

Without any more delay, my brother walked out the door first. Following him was Isshiki, who chased after him with skips and bounces. Yui-san trailed behind them. With the keys jingling in her hands, Yukino-san also left with her.

I remained rooted to the spot while staring at the bag. It bulged out from being filled to capacity, and the top part with the handles collapsed downwards due to gravity. It would remain like this, untouched and forgotten, until I, alone, would remember to retrieve it.

Yukino-san was about to close the door but noticed that I was still inside.

"What's wrong? We need to get going," she said.

"Nothing. I'll go."

I turned around and moved away from that bag and towards the door. I exited, allowing Yukino-san to lock it.

Yui-san was already far down the hallway by the time I checked. She was chatting with Isshiki about something, but I couldn't hear because of the distance. My brother was walking slightly ahead. Then, Yui-san must have said something slightly surprising to Isshiki, as she recoiled away from her. In doing so, she collided with the back of my brother. He turned his head and sent her a chilling glare, but Isshiki merely stuck out her tongue.

I began walking forward as well, with Yukino-san. Though we walked quickly, the distance could not be closed until we had almost arrived at the student council room.

* * *

The braided secretary greeted us as we entered the room. The other members of the council bowed respectfully.

The student council room had random pieces of equipment and comfort items like fridges, fans and heaters were strewn around but in places that weren't in the way. Several posters also adorned the wall, and the largest desk in the room had numerous paraphernalia on top of it.

This was Isshiki Iroha's space. It was a space that she abducted and made into her own.

I was the student council president of my own middle school. It was not like I avoided putting personal items in my room, but I did not undergo a total conversion of the whole place. I mean, I had to think of the other members of the council too. Clearly, however, Isshiki did not show such consideration.

A long table with chairs were already set up in preparation for the meeting. Across from the end of the table was a whiteboard on wheels. As we all took our seats, Isshiki wrote the following on the white board: "Dealing with Kaihin Sogo High".

I was confused as to what this meant. When I asked Yukino-san, she said that, in this meeting, we would briefly go over how we would handle the actual meeting with the other school. It was a meta-discussion, as she said so.

"Just how badly do you get along with these guys?" I asked.

Yui-san replied, "Ahaha, well, not too well."

"That's right. For someone like Yuigahama who's reluctant to treat anyone as less than an acquaintance, you know they must be bad," my brother added.

Yui-san lightly and harmlessly smacked my brother's head with her bag. Well, that was her intention, at least. A metal clang resounded from inside it, and my brother's rotten eyes were on the verge of becoming dank with tears.

"Geez! But wasn't it fine during that cooking event?" puffed Yui-san.

"Indeed, but this event is far bigger in scale and importance compared to that," noted Yukino-san.

Isshiki tapped the whiteboard with her pen and said, "Yeah. I really don't want this to be screwed up, so we kinda have to do this just in case."

At least Isshiki was responsible.

"So, Senpai, Yukinoshita-senpai, I want you two to lay Tamanawa another one if he gets off track again!"

I take it back! This girl is totally unreliable!

"No. That time was... Well, I also wasn't being that polite and clear-minded. I was... In any case, you need to be the one to settle things with him if things do get out of hand. If our leader doesn't assert herself, then there will be repercussions."

For some reason, Yukino-san took a while in the beginning to select the right words. I agreed with what she said at the end, though. I've had my fair share of dealing with the uncooperative, and one of the best strategies was to make sure what you say gets into the heads of the others. They needed to take you seriously, in other words.

Isshiki slumped over and groaned, "Aw fiiiiiine. At least I'm starting I'm starting to get used to them, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

I couldn't help but comment, "Well, speaking from experience, it's not like you need to like them. Just get along with them."

"Anyway, let's talk about what kind of plans they'll bring up and how to go against them!"

Huh? Was I just ignored? I smiled very, very widely.

"So we're already deciding that their plans are worthless..." muttered my brother.

Isshiki expressly hopped over to where my brother was sitting and shyly twiddled her fingers.

"Seeeeenpaaaaai, wasn't it you who made me like this? Wasn't it you who suggested that we put aside all the niceties so that we could get somewhere?"

My eyebrows twitched. Yukino-san sighed as if she were bored by some routine. Yui-san wryly smiled. The other student council members had unchanged faces, as if something of this level was no longer something worth reacting over.

He grumbled, "Can you stop randomly trying to show off your appeal like that? Well, anyway, we're going to be shooting down his ideas with our own, right? Let's just get on with it and decide what we're going to be doing."

Isshiki coughed once and returned to the whiteboard. She then asked the secretary to list to us the ideas that the council had in mind for the community event.

One of the ideas was that play with the elementary school children that my brother mentioned. Because it was a big hit at the Christmas event, apparently the other school's student council president Tamanawa stubbornly stuck to the idea of involving elementary school kids again.

"We'll agree to this so that they get the impression that we're on the same side. Of course, that isn't true, but it'll work in our favour," deviously spoke Isshiki.

"In my experience, it doesn't work like that," I mentioned, "They'll just get mad at you again if you disagree about something afterward."

"Okay, and after that is..."

Ignored again? Sheesh. She sure was abusing her right for respect as someone older than me.

Aside from the play, there would also be various games set up and concession stands. We may also be setting up a few stands that sold trinkets and accessories. No one said it directly, but it was sounding more and more like a block party, rather than some simple sit-down-and-watch event like during Christmas.

"I know it sounds reeeeally big and costly, but we have the backing of sponsors this time. The other school will handle that. We'll be doing most of the organizing," explained Isshiki.

"Um, so, what do we need to look out for, then?" asked Yui-san.

The treasurer answered in Isshiki's place, "You can still feel how finite the budget is, even with the sponsors. We'll have to try our best to come to a compromise with them that minimizes the scale of the event as much as possible."

"Just like last time," my brother followed up, "And we don't have to worry about the scale being so small that it's insufficient. Whatever Tamanawa has in mind is bound to be so large that even if we do a tenth of what he wants to do, we'll still be holding a pretty big event."

"What an idiotic way to put it, but I can't help but agree..." said Yukino-san with a sigh.

Wow. It's not like my middle school student council did not handle the finances and budgeting as well, but we never did have to manage something as big as a block party mostly by ourselves. I guess it's to be expected of the university-prepping Sobu to be giving its students fairly tall responsibilities. Either that or this Tamanawa guy was in over his head.

I offhandedly commented, "Geez, it all sounds so tough. Wish I could be more of a help to you guys."

"It's okay, little sis. You just watch and we'll handle the hard things," asserted Isshiki.

She just completely denounced me. The smile on my face continued to grow wider, hitting the stretch limits of my cheek muscles.

"Iroha-chan sure seems confident," admired Yui-san.

"Overconfident, I'd say. Still, it's better than at the beginning. At least she's shaping up to be a worthy successor of Shiromeguri-senpai," my brother said with a nod.

Upon hearing his words, which were not particularly loud, Isshiki leaped back and hugged her chest.

"Huh? Are you trying to hit on me by complimenting me on my growth? I'm sorry, but I'm a little too occupied these days to get in a relationship, so the answer is no this time."

I looked at Isshiki as if she were some Martian. Isshiki was definitely, definitely as venomous as a snake

"So it's gotten to the point where you'd even joke around like that in front of the others too..." my brother muttered in exasperation.

Isshiki cleared her throat, then stated, "Well, I guess that's everything. To sum it all up, we're going to go along with the play since I think it's a good idea. But for everything else, we should try our hardest to overturn Tamanawa's ideas with our own with the goal of minimizing the scale of the event. If anything goes wrong with the talking, then Senpai will—"

"Then Isshiki will use her persuasiveness to convince Tamanawa otherwise," my brother finished in her place.

Yukino-san nodded to herself as if pleased with the way that Isshiki handled the meeting. Yui-san stood up from her chair and stretched her fatigue away, which will, going by my impressions, return with a fury in the actual meeting.

I began to ask, "Then, what do we—"

Isshiki announced, "It's time we head over to the community centre, then."

And with that rude interruption, the pre-meeting or meta-discussion was adjourned. Everyone began packing up.

Everyone in the room looked at least somewhat confident, as if satisfied with their decided procedures. Each and every person had put in some of their ideas, which steered the discussion toward useful directions. The result was the formation of concrete plans.

However, that "everyone" excluded myself.

Unlike what I was used to, I was unable to grab hold of the steering wheel of the discussion at all. I didn't contribute any ideas or criticize any of the ones presented. I may as well have not been there.

It couldn't be helped given the hesitation due to the age gap. At least that's what I tried telling myself. Although, when I looked over at Isshiki, who was busy taking out various bags from behind her desk, I could not help but think that it was closer to rejection.

Isshiki hauled the bags a short distance away with shaky legs. Noticing that, my brother swooped in and swiped the bags away from her. Just like that. Naturally. Without either of them becoming bashful in the slightest.

A scowl permeated across my face like the spreading of a red dye in water.

"Komachi-chan, just so you know, the meeting will be at the community centre. That's why we're going to go there," said Yui-san.

I reset myself and spoke, "Um, I kinda figured that out. Oh, hey, hey, does Onii-chan ever carry your bags for you like that!?"

My sudden words wormed out of my mouth. I pointed toward Isshiki and my brother.

"Wh-What!? N-No way! I-I mean, I don't want to be a bother to Hikki or anything. But, I guess it would be kinda nice..."

Yui-san shifted her body uncomfortably. Unnaturally.

I looked over at Yukino-san who was listening in on what we were saying. I eyed her questioningly to convey that I was wondering the same thing with regards to her.

"A-Ah, no, I don't let Hikigaya-kun touch my things. His mere touch would make them all dirty and rotten and trashy and all..."

Yukino-san's voice faded as her eyes made their way over to the two that I was pointing at. Her insults lacked their usual impact. Unnatural.

"What are you guys doing? Let's go and get this over with already," said my brother as he held the bags with a firm grip.

He sauntered out the door with Isshiki in tow. The other student council members also left the room in turn. Yukino-san, Yui-san and I joined that procession as well.

What was unnatural in reality was normal to me. After all, that was what I was along the lines of what I was expecting.

But when I witnessed something that was natural I felt that it was abnormal. There was something there that ran contrary to my expectations.

But I also knew that what was unnatural would eventually become natural. That progression was what I had expected as well.

What wasn't right if things were absolutely natural from the beginning. The absence of that stage of unnaturalness at the start was a abnormal. After all, relationships always started at zero and are gradually enriched, taking long periods of time until fondness was built and the unnaturalness became dispelled.

It was supposed to be that only with me would things be the most natural.

* * *

As we transitioned to the outside, crisp, cold air entered my lungs. It felt like it was purging some muck in my windpipes, and the healthy dose of oxygen made my brain feel all empowered. If it makes my brain feel so good, why couldn't I have done my exams outside?

And, well, after getting all refreshed, it dawned on just how bitchy my thoughts were for the last hour or so. I should chill. Komachi, just chill.

The light afternoon sun continued to gleam down upon us. Yet, whatever heat it provided was counterbalanced by the coolness of the wind. It was pleasant before I got here, and it was still pleasant at present.

Step by step, our whole herd headed in the direction of the community centre. It was not super far away, but the distance was great enough to at least get some conversation going. I should latch on to Yui-san's arm!

"Yuuuuui-san, how are things?" I said as I shoved myself up against her.

"Ah!? Oh, well, the same as... no, well, it's the better now, I guess?" said Yuigahama as she looked uneasily at the passing scenery.

I tilted my head. I completely did not get at what she was saying.

"Something happened? Something changed?" I asked.

Yukino-san answered instead, "Well, it wouldn't be wrong to say that. It's nothing for you to worry about, Komachi-san."

Yukino-san gave me a beautiful smile befitting that of a princess. She looked like she was genuinely happy about something.

While Yukino-san and Yui-san were walking beside me, up ahead were my brother and Isshiki. The other student council members formed their own tightly-knit group behind us.

I pointed to Isshiki and questioned, "Is it because of that?"

Isshiki Iroha was at the Service Club before I arrived, and she seemed to talk quite readily easily with the club members. It's probably the case that they've become reasonably close. Perhaps something changed in their group because of the inclusion of Isshiki.

Yui-san vigorously shook her head, "No, no, that's not it. But, in another way, I guess Iroha-chan's been making our days more fun too!"

"She has been visiting the club without a request quite often," said Yukino-san as she thoughtfully gazed at Isshiki, "I don't particularly mind, but I worry that it's interfering with her presidential duties. It's no good if she's using us as an excuse to slack off."

Oh, Yukino-san. You being so responsible and so worrisome makes you the perfect onee-san! Onii-chan, hurry up and get together with her.

"It's okay, Yukinon! She doesn't come every day. I'm sure she's balancing everything well," spoke Yui-san, her hair bun shaking wildly.

Oh, Yui-san. You being so trusting and optimistic makes you the perfect onee-san! Onii-chan, hurry up and get together with her.

Wait, he can only get together with one. Oh no, what a dilemma!

With all that was said, I became slightly curious about Isshiki, who was prancing around ahead while poking at my brother's arm, then staring upward at him with puppy eyes, and—

Okay, that's quite enough.

"Onii-chan, let me help carry the bags too."

I let go of Yui's arm and dashed ahead to the small space between my brother and Isshiki. Isshiki sidled away in surprise. I stole a bag from my brother, which I desperately hauled with both of my hands. Ouch, that was heavy. My back bent forward as I struggled with the weight.

Worryingly, my brother spoke, "Komachi, what are you doing? Just give that back to me."

"No, no. I can handle... this..."

I could not repress a strained tone.

"Um... little sis..."

I turned toward Isshiki.

"Yes, Prez? Anything you need, Prez?"

She narrowed her eyes and spoke without a hint of amusement, "You should give it back to Senpai. You don't look like you can handle it."

True. My legs were shaking and my arms felt like they could fall off. Maybe I would lose my balance and fall flat on my face. The bag would fall on the ground and its contents would spill out everywhere.

It would be best if I returned this bag to my brother. With regards to physical strength, I was unreliable.

The thing is, though, the girl who I was talking to also lacked in muscle power, given her earlier struggling. She, too, was unreliable.

I brought the bag over to my brother. He took it from me at once. Immediately, my arms felt a lot less like jelly, and I could make my back straight once again.

"You have to leave it up to the capable, little sis. That's a kind of decision that the student council president has to make."

Isshiki put her hands on her hips and puffed out her pitiable chest in pride. Why was I getting lectured by her randomly?

"You know, I'm a student council president too. At my middle school," I said, my smile twitching.

"Senpai is good for carrying things, so I make him do it."

Can this girl not ignore me for once? I'm perfectly capable of saying meaningful things.

Wait, if she doesn't pay attention to me, then I should just ask my brother, who she does pay attention to, to convey my message. If she wants to wall herself off from me, then I'll just have to use a battering ram to get through.

"Onii-chan, tell her that something like that is obvious."

"Isshiki, any good leader recognizes the effectiveness of division of labour. You obviously don't match people up with what they're bad at. Only with what they're good at. If that's the case, then general positions are also bad. Some of their responsibilities will be what they're good at and some of them will be what they're bad at. That's just inefficient. In my case, I don't like to work, so it would be better for me to become a house-husband. For maximum efficiency, of course."

Yet another pointless and longwinded explanation. Eyes can only roll back so far before it becomes necessary to tilt back the head to show further annoyance.

Isshiki stared weirdly at my brother.

"Senpai, I don't understand how you wanting to be a house-husband has anything to do with a student council president. And how come you're lecturing me?"

Well, Isshiki, guess what you were doing just moments ago. You have no right to be complaining about getting lectured. But wait, if she was not even considering what she, herself did, then was that not further proof that she was disregarding me?

I should totally become a detective or a lawyer.

"A-Anyway, Isshiki, you should prepare yourself with meeting Tamanawa again because none of us wants a repeat of the Christmas event."

Isshiki frowned as she spoke, "Uh, can you, like, not try to brush my question off?"

That hypocrite subconsciously edged slightly closer to my brother as she said that. I, who was wedged in between them, was forced to back away a little to accommodate her.

With an air of triumph, my brother replied, "You've got no right to complain. I've got to 'take responsibility', right?"

As he smugly grinned at Isshiki, he moved slightly closer to her as well. I had to back away once more.

"O-Oh, well, I guess that's true..."

Isshiki casted her eyes away, looking quite troubled. My, my, what happened to her slyness? Get sly again right now.

Gradually, I found myself falling behind, becoming separated from the two. They closed in on the previously occupied space completely. There was no way in.

We were almost at our destination by now, so I just spent the rest of the journey silently walking behind them. It was probably more worth my while to be enjoying the outdoors right now. Anything else, I no longer felt like doing.

As I kept my eyes forward like any sane person would do while walking, I tried my best to keep that flaxen hair out of the corner of my vision.

* * *

I'd like a tall caramel macchiato and a sesame chicken wrap. No thanks, I would not like a La Boulange pastry.

Or something. Hang on, I wasn't at Starbucks. But the familiar white cup with the trademarked logo being present within grasping range of the seated high school guys and a girl in the community centre room made it awfully convincing. Even more, there were multitudes of Apple products scattered around the table, from iPhones to iPads to Macbooks.

"Iroha-chan, glad to see you again...?"

The guy with a sort of short but disordered hairstyle who was sitting at the leader's end of the table stood up to give his warm welcome, but his tone suddenly veered off into the bewildered roadside after checking out the three Service Club members accompanying her.

"A-And you guys again, too," he brusquely added.

The sole girl on their side, who had brown bobbed hair, stood up as well.

"Oh, hey, Hikigaya! I knew you'd show up again!"

Oh!? D-Did my brother meet another one while I wasn't looking!? He's working faster and faster!

My brother clicked his tongue. Looking extremely disinterested, he mustered up the briefest of the briefest of greetings.

"Yo."

It was obvious from the exchanges filled with familiarity that these guys must be the student council of Kaihin Sogo High. Each and every one of the members looked keen as they sat there at the ready. How bad could they possibly be?

That messy-haired guy announced, "Right. With the members of the CONGRESS gathered, let's begin this PRODUCTIVE EXCHANGE. Oh, wait, do we have a new PARTNER with us today?"

He glanced curiously at me. My brother spoke in that weird way like that yesterday. Was he trying to make a joke or something to break the ice?

"Hello. I'm Hikigaya Komachi," I introduced myself as I bowed.

"Just call me Tamanawa, little one. I'm the student council president of Kaihin Sogo," he spoke as he brushed his hair back like some movie actor, "Iroha-chan, shall we commence our OPERATIONS?"

Isshiki already put on a kind of business-like smile whose sole purpose was to hide her murderous intent.

"Yeeeees. Let's start the _meeting_ ," she politely said as she politely emphasized her last polite word.

Our side took the seats on the opposite end of the table so that most of us were facing a student from Kaihin Sogo High. Unlike Tamanawa, Isshiki did not sit at an end of the table, but at the long side, among the rest of us. I hope she realized that it reduces her impression as a leader. Everyone had claimed their chair by the time I got to pick. Because of that, I somehow managed to find myself seated beside Isshiki.

Yukino-san, Yui-san, and my brother sat together at the far end of the table, indicating that they were there for support. It was up to Isshiki and her crew to stand on their own two feet.

"So, uh, what exactly did you have in mind?" asked Isshiki with a static smile.

Tamanawa took an unnecessarily large gulp of his coffee or whatever kind of hot beverage was in his white Starbucks cup. After he put the cup down, he rested his elbows on the table and propped his chins with the back of his hands that were one on top of the other. Was he trying to look wise or cool or intelligent or something?

"You see, I have a dream for GLOBALIZATION. But I know our LIMITATIONS. But we can still realize my dream through COMPROMISES."

Uh huh. It's good to have dreams, I guess. And it's good to know your limits. So, what was his point?

"So, if we really go far and meet CONSUMER DEMANDS by having a big SUPPLY of GOODS and ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES, then I think this event will be a big success."

Tamanawa nodded to himself, showing that he was proud of his own plan, probably thinking that it was all grandiose and perfect. Well, I almost understood two words of his explanation. Yep, I totally didn't get it.

My brother spoke up, "In other words, you want this event to appeal to a lot of people, and to do that, we would need a wide variety of things to do in the event?"

Tamanawa nodded in confirmation. Wow, leave it up to my brother to translate for us.

So, what does Isshiki have to say about that?

"I see. Buuuuut, let's play it kinda safe, since I've never done something as big as this before. Like, that play we did at Christmas worked out, so let's use something like that as the main attraction again."

What she said checks out. But let's see just how long this irresponsible girl will last before sputtering something, well, irresponsible.

Tamanawa nodded in agreement, "Very interesting. But low RISK means low REWARD as well. I like the idea of the play, but it's just not enough, you know? Not to worry though, I've created another MANIFESTO for this event."

Tamanawa glanced at the sole girl of the Kaihin Sogo side to cue her to do something. Noticing it, she withdrew a stack of paper from her bag, stood up, and distributed a sheet of paper to everyone, including me.

"Here you go, uh—"

I took the paper that she held out gratefully.

"Thanks. I'm Hikigaya Komachi, by the way," I introduced myself with a smile.

"Hikigaya... Komachi? I see, I see. I'm Orimoto Kaori," she said with a wink.

Looking as amused as a discoverer of treasure, Orimoto bounced back to her seat. She doesn't seem so bad. I mean, the way she appeared all bubbly and energetic was definitely not fake.

I glanced over at Isshiki beside me. She was scouring over the piece of paper she received from Orimoto with tired eyes and a forced smile.

Whatever.

I began reading the contents of the paper. True to Tamanawa's words, the top of the page had the giant word MANIFESTO. From top to bottom were disorganized bullet points of ideas. After reading a few of them, it was clear that this manifesto was more of a storm of hardly organized ideas straight and unfiltered from his brain. The types of ideas varied from doable but barely feasible (like a ring toss with a too wide variety of prizes) to appallingly, crazily idiotic (like hiring a few famous bands and procuring an expensive buffet).

"Wow, now I know why you guys needed that pre-meeting meeting," I muttered to myself.

"Yep. We can't be taking this lightly, little sis!" spoke Isshiki anyway, "See, all these ideas are kinda crazy, but they do have some sense to them. All we gotta do is fix up all the problems and take out what's really, really bad, and we'll end up with something decent without having to start from scratch."

Isshiki held up the manifesto with confidence. The paper scrunched a little under the excessive force she put into holding it.

That might just work, actually. It's better to have an clear idea of what we want to do overall. It didn't matter whether it came from herself or if she was adopting someone else's base plans. As long as she followed some road, things would become a lot simpler. I've got a higher opinion of her now.

Overhearing us, my brother spoke up, "Wait, isn't that something like what I said back then?"

Isshiki stuck out her tongue and squeaked, "Teehee."

I've got a lower opinion of her now. I could not help but sigh. It's legitimate to emulate ideas, but exactly copying words is pretty much dependency. She should learn from Yukino-san, who's super strong with regards to standing on her own two feet.

Isshiki discussed some matters with the members of the student council members. They were probably setting some things straight with regards to the things in the manifesto. Occasionally, they would consult the three of the Service Club for suggestions and advice. I was more or less left alone, however.

Hey, I've got some nice ideas too. Helloooooooo?

For example, about the idea of hiring bands, it's obviously a no-go, but we can still get some nice music for dirt cheap or even free.

"Um, prez? For the music, we should—"

"That's right, the music!" spoke Isshiki as she faced her followers, "We should just get the kids to sing again, because of how both cheap and cute it was."

She stole the words right out of my lips. Well, she didn't steal everything.

"Because this thing's going to be big, I think we should also ask each school's music clubs to perform too," I suggested.

Why hire bands when we've got some right within our grasp? It shouldn't be too hard for the student councils to commission their own schools' music clubs. I mean, at least it wasn't a big deal for me and my middle school. It's a pretty good idea in my opinion.

Finally, for the first time, Isshiki turned to me in surprise. I was waiting for this.

"Isn't that obvious? Of course we'll have them perform too," uttered Isshiki in amazement.

I, too, became amazed. My hands clenched into fists underneath the table, and I fought to prevent them from rattling and striking the underside.

Yukino-san turned to Isshiki and said, "Have you decided on everything? Can I see the changes you've made to the proposal? I want to compare it with mine."

Oh, so they had already started writing on their sheets of paper. Maybe I should jot down some of my own ideas so that I can contribute better. It's time to rely on my experience as a student council president.

I withdrew a red pen from my bag and began scribbling on that page.

"Very interesting," spoke Yukino-san in satisfaction, "A lot of what you wrote is similar to or are acceptable alternatives to mine, Isshiki-san."

"Reeeeeeally? So you think we're good to go with this?"

Wait, wait. I still had to show Isshiki my ideas. I hastened my writing of notes.

My brother nodded and replied, "Well, if Yukinoshita doesn't have any problems with it... I mean, I don't have any problems with it either."

"Oh, are we actually agreeing on something for once?" said Yukino-san with a devious smile.

Waaaaaait! Don't agree on everything without me! I sped up my writing even more. My penmanship fell to pieces. My Japanese looked like some moon alien language.

"It's not that I'm agreeing with you. It's just that I happen to be satisfied as well," said my brother with a shrug.

Yukino-san sighed, "What kind of logic is that? If our thoughts on something converge, if we get to the same end, then isn't that the very definition of agreement?"

Finally, I was finished. I passed the manifesto with my messy supplementations to Isshiki. I mean, at least I tried to, by shoving it to her table.

"Hey, take a look at what I got too," I said as I massaged the fingers of my dominant hand.

Isshiki scanned over what I had written very quickly. Was she a fast reader or was she pretending to read?

"Hmmm... well, it's not bad, but we've already decided on our way of doing the things you had changes for. Sorry, little sis, but I don't think we'll use any of your ideas."

She passed the sheet of paper back to me. I looked down at it. The corrections that I made, in their ink of red, burned into my eyes as things unused, things rejected.

"Oh."

My ideas were judged as worthless before they were even taken into consideration. Isshiki had already set her ideas in stone. I was too late. Or perhaps I didn't even have the option of being on time.

"That's fine, then," I muttered.

I lifted my head back up. I was met with Isshiki's malicious sneer.

That's enough.

Isshiki Iroha had no intention of taking me seriously from the start. She looked down on me. She regarded me as nothing. Maybe it was because she was older than me and that she was prideful of her position as a student council president. I was here to be useful. But she already tossed me aside as useless.

I whipped my head away from Isshiki's direction and toward the other school's side. Tamanawa looked to be brimming with confidence, as if he was anticipating for us to give him the pass to continue on with the current flawed plans.

What exactly was I here for? Who exactly did I decide to help?

It wasn't Isshiki that I had in mind when I decided to come yesterday. No, I had come here under the request of my brother, Yui-san and Yukino-san. From the start, my own objective didn't depend on Isshiki at all. I agreed to help them with a request no matter what it was. It being something related to Isshiki was, for all intents and purposes, just a coincidence.

It didn't matter.

But because it didn't matter, I did not stand up right this instant, march home, plop myself on the couch, and play on my brother's PS VITA. I didn't want to disappoint the ones who asked me for help. Therefore, I will continue to be here and help out in any way that I can, not for the sake of Isshiki Iroha, but for the sake of my brother, Yukinoshita Yukino and Yuigahama Yui.

Isshiki Iroha, I will show you just what it means to be reliable. I will show you why you shouldn't be disregarding anyone, not even me.

"Isshiki. Go ahead and tell them the things we decided on," I stated.

I laid my own corrected manifesto in front of me. It would serve as corrections for her corrections.

"I don't need you to tell me thaaat," said Isshiki in slight annoyance.

Isshiki turned towards Tamanawa and cleared her throat. It caught Tamanawa's attention.

"I believe my MANIFESTO is both EFFICIENT and INNOVATIVE, no?" unwaveringly spoke Tamanawa.

"I think I get the gist of it, and it's pretty good. We're all fine with the overall picture. Buuuuuut, there's a few small details that we need to fix up," said Isshiki with matching confidence.

"What she means is that the method and scale aren't up to our manpower and budget," I added.

Isshiki turned to me and spoke in displeasure, "Eeeeeh, I was getting on to that..."

"Isshiki-san, you do need to be more clear and precise when stating your main idea," chided Yukino-san with a simple smile.

As always, the way that Yukino-san is so academically-minded makes her the perfect wife material!

"I see, so you managed to find INEFFICIENCIES within my MANIFESTO," said Tamanawa with nods, "Very well. I trust that you have gone through with some OPTIMIZATIONS?"

"Op... Opti- what?"

"Yuigahama, I'll tell you what it means later.

"Yuigahama-san, it's nothing to worry about, but it would be good for yourself if you learned what it means later."

"Ahem. Well, about the bands... Music is definitely a good thing, but going as far as hiring bands? No waaaay. Can't we just use our schools' music clubs or something? And we could also get the kids to sing again."

Tamanawa scratched his chin and, with heavy skepticism, spoke, "True, but would they really have enough GRANDEUR?"

Isshiki became at a loss. She was probably racking her brains for counterarguments right now.

Tamanawa probably wanted the type of music that would get people on their feet and screaming. Usually, the music clubs at school are more of the orchestral or jazz types. While the music they produce could be loud and profound, they wouldn't have such an effect. People would be sitting down and listening in silence.

There was nothing wrong with Tamanawa's vision regarding this. And I could think of just the thing that would satisfy Tamanawa's desires without breaking the bank.

"If the school's music clubs aren't up to your tastes, then why not make it like some singing idol contest? You'll be able to get the kind of high-energy excitement you want that way, and I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who can perform that kind of music."

"Oh, that will definitely be exciting!" exclaimed Yui-san, "It'll just be like at the cultural festival, right Yukinon?"

"Indeed, that is a suitable alternative," said Yukino-san, satisfied, "I also think that it's a good idea to involve our own students as much as we can for an event this big. If we advertise it as another festival, then I'm sure they'll agree."

"INNOVATIVE idea. I like it," said Tamanawa with a single, loud clap.

Everyone looked like they were okay with my idea. Nods and note-taking were seen around the room. Actually, that's almost everyone. When I looked toward Isshiki, she had puckered lips.

"Eeeeh... I was... about to say that too, or something..." she spoke, her voice heavy with scorn.

Yeah, right. If she had the idea, she would have immediately said it afterward.

"Isshiki, what else?" I said, triumph all over my sneering face.

She sighed. If we were outdoors right now, there would probably be a mist so dense coming out of her mouth that it would cover her entire face.

"Haaaaah... Anyway, about the games, who will we get to man all the booths? Well, I'm sure that we're both thinking of getting the students to do it, but—"

"Of course, we may or may not find enough volunteers for the task. Maybe we could prepare a small reward like a coupon or gift card from our sponsors?" I interjected.

"Hey, I was definitely about to say that, little sis," — Isshiki then turned toward my brother — "Senpai, can you tell your little sis that she's being super rude right now?"

He scratched his head, averted his eyes as to not look too off-putting and said, "Uh, Komachi, what you're saying is good, but we gotta have Isshiki say it all first, you know."

"Sure," I readily accepted.

Whoops, I went overboard. That's okay, I'll just wait until after Isshiki finishes before I lay it all down.

"Yeah, preach it!" shouted Orimoto from across the room.

"Nice idea, too," said Tamanawa, looking more and more pleased.

Isshiki coughed very conspicuously and continued, "As for food, a buffet is way out of the question. Why don't we just stick with the kinds of stalls that any festival usually has? That way, we can still get students to run most of those, and they'll already have a good idea of how to do it from experience at cultural festivals."

I followed up, "Adding onto that, if you're worried about variety, again, don't be. I don't know about your school, but I've looked around the cultural festival at Sobu, and the food wasn't the least bit unimpressive or uncreative. If that's not enough, then..."

I looked over at Yukino-san. She tilted her head in confusion.

"You've eaten her cakes at Christmas, right? If you feel that we need more food ideas, then we've got our very own pro chef to here!"

"I-I'm not as good as you say, but it's not like I can't teach people a few new recipes..." bashfully spoke Yukino-san.

"No, no, I'd actually be happy if I could eat more of your kind of cooking, Yukinon!" said Yui-san as she held Yukino-san's hands.

"I-In that case, I that suppose I'm okay with it..."

Whoa, no yuri please. My brother doesn't need _that_ kind of rivalry.

Isshiki furrowed her brow in annoyance before continuing, "And about how long this whole thing is... I reeeeally don't think that it lasting from ten to ten is a good idea."

"Well, the event must have a long DURATION in order to attract the most amount of people from the COMMUNITY. We can also catch people who are going home from work if we run GRAVEYARD SHIFTS," reasoned Tamanawa.

"Eeeeeeh, but we'll be really tired if we do it for that long," complained Isshiki.

"There comes a time when we must work OVERTIME," said Tamanawa while scratching his chin, trying to look intelligent, "This is all to MAXIMIZE our PRODUCTIVITY."

Yukino-san spoke in utter disbelief, "What kind of economics course are you taking, exactly? Just because we can do it for longer, it doesn't mean we should if it means we don't get anything out of it."

"But we're not in it for the PROFIT," argued Tamanawa, "We just want to see the smiles on peoples' faces."

"Even so, my point still stands. Just how many more smiles will we make if we keep the event up for that long? Will it be worth the extra effort? I don't believe so."

Yukino-san's sword of logic and practicality sure was sharp. Tamanawa grimaced under the weight of reality. However, he did not give in.

"I-I'm sure we can overcome anything in the name of COMMUNITY SERVICE."

Weak! That argument was way too weak! Let's end his grasping of the straws already. I'll put it in a way that will get him to see the light.

"Mmm, if it's too long, then it also gets drawn out. If we make it shorter and sweeter, then it should be more exciting. I mean, it's like eating a tasty meal. Why would you want to take your time with it when you feel like you want to stuff it all in your mouth?"

"Ah, I kind of get it," spoke Yui-san in enlightenment, "We would have to space all of the events out if it lasts too long as well. And people would just go home because they don't want to wait so long for the next thing."

With a face struck with realization, Tamanawa spoke, "I see! So we're going for a convenient PACKAGE DEAL rather than the SHOTGUN APPROACH."

I nodded. But I totally didn't get what he just said. That also went for Yui-san, who put on the type of profound expression that's trying to hide her inability to understand.

I leaned back a bit on my chair and stretched my tired body and arms, basking in the victory of contribution. Out of curiosity, I glanced over at Isshiki beside me, whose limelight I had been stealing.

As expected, Isshiki was staring downwards at the manifesto, trying to look like she was putting in some serious thought about it. However, her clenched fists and tightly shut lips spoke otherwise.

Whatever she felt about it all was not my problem. What is my problem is if she lost the will to continue the meeting, so I shall just give her a gentle nudge.

"Hey, Isshiki," I said loudly as I placed a firm hand on her shoulder, "What's next? What other things do you have in mind, dear president?"

"Huh!? I'm not about to— I mean, well... ah, forget it," said Isshiki as she brushed my hand away and faced the other side, "The last big thing I want to talk about is the play with the kids. You wanted it to be an original. So, who's going to write it, who's going to organize and train the actors, and who's gonna prepare the props and handle the behind-the-scenes?"

"I have the SCRIPT ready and DRAMATIS PERSONAE decided. I believe we should COLLABORATE in order to get everything ready and to oversee the rehearsals."

Going by what my brother told me yesterday, I would probably be a prime candidate for helping the kids practice. Lucky me. It's nice to lend a bunch of helplessly cute children your support once in a while.

"Can we have a look at the script before we move forward with that?" asked Isshiki.

Tamanawa nodded. Again, Tamanawa withdrew another stack of papers from his bag. Although he's hard to understand, at least he's prepared.

"I've had enough of reviewing amateur works," groaned my brother.

"Leave things up to a specialist. I've believe you've said something like that, so it's your duty to live up to your words," said Yukino-san with a giggle.

"It's not like I read whatever it is that Zaimokuza writes because I like it."

As we made some small talk, another one of Tamanawa's council members passed his script around. The script wasn't super thick, but it was, nonetheless, far too long for us to analyze in this short meeting.

After flipping through the script, Isshiki complained, "Ugh, I reeeeally don't want to have to read through all this."

"It's not a big deal. I mean, it's not like it's Shakespeare," I spoke as-a-matter-of-factly.

Isshiki retorted in a low tone, "Yeah, well, it's not like a middle schooler like you would be able to help much with this high school-level writing."

"Maybe. But if I'm guessing correctly, Tamanawa is a higher year than you, right? That means his script is above your level too," I spoke with a tone of feigned innocence.

I had the upper hand now. Isshiki's seething expression looked like it was about to boil over with rage. I crossed my arms.

"Seriously, what the heck?" uttered Isshiki, "I'm not about to argue with you."

Isshiki was not trying to pacify the situation. Rather, she meant that I was too petty to be worth arguing with.

I sighed deeply. Fine with me, then. It's not like I enjoyed arguing either. But there's no way that anyone would look up to her with an attitude like that.

"Anyway, that's all. We'll go over the fine details on your own and agree on the final thing some other time," briskly spoke Isshiki to Tamanawa.

"I'm glad that you found my MANIFESTO to be of your suiting. Very well, meeting adjourned!"

"Suited who? I sure as heck didn't really find it all that appealing," muttered my brother.

"Hikigaya-kun, anything that has to do with you and interacting with the public will never seem appealing to you," said Yukino-san in astonishment.

"Yeah, Senpai. You don't like it, so it's like work to you, right? I'm counting on yooooou."

Isshiki completely turned her body around as she spoke to my brother. When I instinctively turned my head toward her, her back filled my vision.

My brother complained, "Give me a break..."

No, give _me_ a break. A certain someone with flaxen hair was more than giving me the cold shoulder. She doesn't want me here. It was unsettling.

I was more than ready to stand up. When I did so, I felt like I was doing something far too late time-wise, something that would have been more appropriate to have done mid-way through the meeting rather than now.

I watched Isshiki talk over some things with her fellow student council officers. After that, she bounced toward my brother and talked with him first then discussed some things with Yui-san and Yukino-san. Of course, I was left out. Yeah, yeah, I can ask my brother for the details later. What a nice way to save energy, Isshiki.

I pulled out my cell phone. I got new mails from Mia and Yuuki-san. I replied to them half-heartedly. Thirty seconds after I put my phone away, I forgot what the mails even said.

While I was doing that, Isshiki had already started talking about something dumb with my brother. He replied to her with an annoyed face. Yukino-san and Yui-san looked worn out trying to keep up with Isshiki. I found no opening to slip into their conversation, nor did I really feel like it, so I waited silently at some corner until they finished speaking.

* * *

The sun was starting to set by the time we left the community centre. The horizon was bathed in a deep orange. Several street lights had already switched on in preparation for the inevitable night. With the sun bidding us farewell, the temperature began to drop down to coldness reminiscent of winter rather than spring.

I bowed and said goodbye to Yui-san, who gave me a big wave, and to Yukino-san, who gave me a tiny, awkward wave. They headed off in the same direction. Maybe Yui-san was going to stay over at Yukino-san's place.

To Isshiki, I vaguely spoke some words, and she vaguely returned some of her own words. She turned her back to me first and walked off before I had a chance to say anything more. How unnecessary. I had nothing more to say to her anyway.

It was just my brother and me now. We headed off in the direction of the setting sun.

"Well, I hope that wasn't too mind-numbing," my brother muttered.

"Not at all. My brain is more dead than numb," I responded.

He tried his best to keep his pace down to match with mine. But I knew that he was aching to walk faster as periodically he would move a few steps in front of me. Maybe if I asked him about it, he would tell me that loners didn't usually walk with anyone, so he was used to simply walking as fast as possible to his next destination.

Oh you.

With my right hand, I grabbed onto his left hand. Our hands meshed perfectly as if we were (surprise, surprise) related. In the past, we did hold hands so that I wouldn't get lost. Right now, though, this was to make sure he doesn't overtake me.

"Well, in the end, I'm sure it'll turn out to be super fun. I mean, the Christmas event was amazing," I spoke with sparkly eyes.

"We worked our butts off to get the Christmas event like that. Most of the effort was used to get the meetings in order, though. Well, you saw how Tamanawa was, so you can imagine how hard it was," said my brother as he sighed.

"I know... And, with someone like Isshiki as president, it would've been super bad if you weren't there, right, Onii-chan?"

"What do you mean by 'someone like Isshiki'?" he questioned in surprise.

"Well, I mean, like, she isn't exactly ideal or something. And I'm not really sure if she can really handle it all..."

"What are you talking about?" my brother retorted, "I think she's doing fine. There hasn't been any major problems with the things she was in charge of so far."

With my free hand, I twirled around the single long strand of hair on my head. Playing around with my own hair was strangely soothing, and I needed that right now.

"It's just that she doesn't exactly give off an aura of authority of anything. Like she just reeks of irresponsibility," I muttered while avoiding my brother's eyes.

"Yeah, I thought so too in the beginning. But she is getting better. I wouldn't write her off. I mean, if you ask Yukinoshita, I think she wouldn't be rubbing her temples about it anymore."

"Oh, so that's what you think."

Right, that's what he _thinks_ about it. But opinion doesn't always match fact. It could also be the case that my brother simply got closer to Isshiki and began to forgive or ignore her shortcomings. People who are close tend to trust each other more, after all. And cunning Isshiki could take advantage of that quite easily while still remaining as irresponsible as she was at the start.

My brother looked cautiously at me and spoke, "Hey, I don't know what you're thinking, but Isshiki is fine. I mean, she is like that and all, but I'm sure she's genuinely putting in the effort."

There was one thing I needed to confirm. I needed to make sure that this one thing still held true to this day.

"Hey, Onii-chan. Who's more important to you — me or Isshiki?"

His answer came without a single moment of delay, just like back then.

"What kind of question is that?"

Only, the contents differed significantly.

"Is that so, Onii-chan?"

I let go of his hand. I hastened my pace so that I overtook him.

"Komachi?"

I didn't respond. Something in my heart felt like it had solidified and gained mass. Something in my gut felt like it was glued in place, as if it clogging my systems up.

I kept my distance from him as we continued to walk. I kept my mouth shut even as my brother made some small mutterings in an attempt to start a conversation. I faced the front even as I felt his anxious eyes on the back of my head.

I casted my eyes upward. Eventually, all traces of orange in the sky will be overtaken by the coming black. The street lamps would serve as a replacement for the lost light, but they will never even come close to the brightness and hot intensity of a sun that burns so proudly and powerfully even at astronomical distances.

Even so, there were people who would be fine with light as dim as these. They would reason that if they could see their feet and whatever it is several metres in front of them, it would be all they needed.

My right hand was feeling rather light. I made clawing motions with my fingers as if trying to grasp something. I felt like some weight was missing.

It was then that I remembered that there was a bag that I was supposed to have claimed. There was a bag of snacks sitting by itself in the Service Club room that I had forgotten to retrieve even though I had told myself that I'd go get it.

I twisted my body backwards, in the direction of Sobu, but also in the direction of my brother. I couldn't go get it now because it was too late. I turned forward again, and my brother used this opportunity to catch up to my side once again.

"What's up? Forgot something?" he asked in concern.

"Nothing important," I replied.

* * *

That night, I received a mail from Yui-san. She had, herself, received a mail from Isshiki, who told her that the bag of snacks was probably still there in the clubroom unless I had already gone and claimed it.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: It is not enough that Isshiki Iroha succeeds; Hikigaya Komachi must also succeed.**_

Groggy. I felt like I woke up from a three-month coma.

While I was going down the staircase, I almost stepped onto our cat who was sleeping on one of the steps. What a funny place for him to sleep at. Though, since our rooms were all upstairs, it was at the staircase where he would definitely be able to catch sight of every single one of us, just to make sure.

His name was Kamakura, but I liked to call him Kaa-kun. I'm pretty sure that he liked to be called that too, but, being a quiet cat as opposed to a rowdy dog, he doesn't really show his appreciation very strongly.

Kaa-kun's whiskers twitched when my foot was right over him. As I slowly withdrew my foot, his eyes, sharp and pearly as ever, shot open and he stared right at me.

Like any cat, Kaa-kun is pretty solitary. He goes off on his own and eats on his own schedule (that is, sometimes eating the moment we bring him food or sometimes waiting a bit before doing so) and sleeps on his own schedule. Ironically, even though he does his own things, Kaa-kun does like to lie around in a room that has people in it. If we're in the living room, then he'll come to the living room to do something on his own like laying down on the couch. It's almost like he's trying to make himself look like an ornament. Well, he'll leave if we're being annoying, though. But if we're being quiet, he'll grace us with the opportunity to feel his fuzzy fur.

Because he's been in our family for quite a while now, he's also become quite perceptive. He'll know exactly when we come home from work or school and he remembers the exact times when we serve him dinner. If I'm tired and I need to rest, he'll snuggle himself right next to me, offering himself as a furry ball of warmth. Actually, about that last point, he's probably taking advantage of my own heat or taking advantage of a blanket that I might be using as his intention.

Guess who Kaa-kun is most fond of? That's right, me, who was his main caretaker and plaything! Although, putting it that way makes it sound like he was the master rather than me.

Solitary, perceptive, and fond of me. Well, that sounds a lot like another person in the family.

Kaa-kun continued to stare at me for another few seconds. I was about to bend down and feel the fuzziness of his fur, but he stood up on all fours and leaped down the stairs.

I went down the stairs as well and chased after Kaa-kun. He twisted into the living room and hopped right on top of the television. When I came closer, he sprang to the couch. He kept his distance, but he didn't necessarily care to keep himself away from my sight.

One time in the past, I got really grumpy because of some stupid thing going on at school with some dumb issue that I don't even want to remember because it was just that insanely nonsensical, especially due to the fact that Yuka turned off her brain whenever her boyfriend came up in the conversation or appeared in person. Anyway, I came home really mad that day, so I, uh, played with Kaa-kun especially hard. After that, he escaped from my clutches and kept his distance just like right now.

I didn't even do anything to him yet.

I sighed. Kaa-kun really is too perceptive.

* * *

Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast. Have a good meal first thing in the morning and you'll perk right up. If you skip it, you'll probably collapse before noon. Simple as that. But I almost wanted to put away my frying pan and do just that this morning.

As usual, the role of chef of breakfast, lunch and dinner fell to me whenever my mom was too busy. The eggs got cracking, the sugar got mixing, and the soy sauce got dripping. Dripping right onto the floor. Whoops.

I made sure to clean up the mess I made with a wet towel. It never hurts to be clean. I also keep my room kinda clean. You gotta be prepared to accommodate visitors. Though, whenever my friends come over, my brother is either out or locked in his room. I wonder why that was?

No, of course I knew the answer to that. If my brother had confidence in something, it would have to be in his ability repel other people. He wanted to keep that A-rank ability under wraps.

But he didn't have to do that. If I did have friends that turned out to be vulnerable to that ability, then they wouldn't be my friends anymore afterwards.

After I was done cleaning, I went back to cooking (after washing my hands, of course). I poured some of the egg mixture that I had just made onto the warm-enough frying pan that had a big-enough pool of oil spread around the bottom. In just moments, gooey liquid became still and turned into a yellowy sheet. With a pair of chopsticks, I rolled that sheet up into a nice, well, roll. I poured more of the mixture into the pan, and that portion turned solid, and I rolled it up over the already-made, uh, roll. I kept doing that until I ran out of egg, and I was left with a nice multi-layered egg, um, roll. Well, that's a real stiff name that I came up with. It's no wonder that they called it an omelette instead.

I removed the omelette from the pan and placed it onto my plate. I'll cut it up into bite-sized portions later on. Keeping it whole like this keeps the heat in better. I think it's because of less volume. Or was it less surface area? I hope I got that question right on the exam.

I realized that I still needed to make an omelette for my brother. I forgot about that, so I didn't prepare twice as much of the egg mixture.

Say, about people who weren't vulnerable to my brother's ability, would they necessarily be my friend, then? Would the reverse of that thing earlier by necessarily true?

Of course not. I mean, among one of my brother's acquaintances there's that one guy. Not Sai-chan, but the fat one. Zaimatsuka? Mochiteru? See, I can barely even remember his name.

Slow footsteps approached the dining room table behind me. I, who was still in the kitchen, craned my neck around to see who had arrived carefully and soundlessly. Of course, it was my brother.

"Uh... Yo," he awkwardly spoke.

"Good morning."

I turned back to the kitchen table and stove to finish up the preparations for breakfast. As I chopped up some lettuce for a light salad, not a single squeak sounded from behind me. There was a pot turned upside down on the drying rack. I looked at the reflection of its shiny sides and caught my brother standing motionlessly while occasionally stealing awkward glances at my profile. The fact that I knew made just a little bit of sweat seep out of my pores, and I tensed up a bit.

"It'll be ready soon," I simply said.

"O-Oh, right," my brother stammered.

With that, he finally pulled out a chair from the table and took a seat. Again, there was silence, save for the sounds of cooking. I sped up the pace just a little bit, half in an attempt to ignore the glances that still flashed this way.

After I was finished, I gently carried the plates of food to the dining table, placed one in front of my brother as his eyes followed it, and placed another in front of where I was going to sit. I also brought over cups and poured tea into them.

I stepped back into the kitchen for a moment to take off my apron and put it away. I reached behind my back and fumbled with the knot that I made. However, it was done up far too tighly. Stupid me. I tackled the string labyrinth over and over, each time loosening it up a bit but then accidentally tightening it up again in the next step. I almost wanted to take some scissors and cut it off. I held out in the end, though. With reddened, aching fingers, I finally undid the knot and slipped off the apron.

I made my way back to the table. My brother hadn't started eating yet, and he was looking off absentmindedly for some reason.

I purposely pulled my chair out hard and sat down with a rattle.

"Thanks for the meal," I spoke a little loudly.

Waking up, my brother followed with a start, "Ah... um, thanks for the meal."

I dug in a little too graciously. I realized that my stomach was emptier than I thought. Yet, I didn't feel like savouring each bite. It was neither good nor bad.

My brother pecked at his food unusually slowly , but he swallowed every bite of food that he did put in his mouth.

It wasn't silent. The clinging of our utensils and the crunching and sloshing filled the sound-space of the room. Indeed, we were preoccupied with eating. Too busy. Words would have been in the way, so none were spoken.

After a while, engaged in that quiet consumption, I finished up the last slice of lettuce and put down my fork. I looked over, and my brother was still going at it. If this were an eating competition, then I guess I would've won. But it wouldn't be much of a competition without a prize, and since there was no prize for finishing first here, it didn't really matter at all.

Perhaps I should have immediately transported my plate to the sink and began washing it and the dirty pans and bowls. Somehow, though, I didn't feel up to that, at least not yet. I remain seated and waited for my brother to finish. In the mean time, I sipped my tea, which had cooled down enough such that even a person with a cat's tongue would find it drinkable.

Eventually, my brother finished. He put down his chopsticks and washed down his meal with his tea. After having filled up with breakfast energy and wetted his dry throat, my brother looked, well, a little less wooden.

"Hey, Komachi, we are going again today to help out with things..." — my brother paused for a moment — "If you're not too busy, that is."

I caressed the side of my tea cup. The bit of heat that was left warmed my fingers.

"That's obvious, Onii-chan," I spoke as I looked up at him.

He did raised his arms and did a light stretch. In doing so, he gave himself the excuse to turn his head sideways. He notched only his eyes towards me as he kept facing that way. He tried his best to look apathetic.

"Of course I'm not too busy today."

"R-Right... if you're fine with it. With getting busy again, I mean."

"Mmhmm."

I matched him in doing my own stretches. Seeing that, my brother smiled slightly. I finally smiled too, a little bit.

"Like, it's okay if Komachi gets a bit busy from here on out for the sake of Yukino-san and Yui-san," I said as I stood up.

"Yeah... thanks," muttered my brother.

Inwardly, I thought of the words "well, whatever". I like stuff like that. You roll your words all over your tongue, and things just seem to work out. If you can somehow manage to say something that takes the essence of whatever it is you're a little anxious about, then it just seems a little less troublesome.

Maybe it's because of that that I felt little refreshed somehow. I could actually keep going, even if I knew there was just going to be a thorn stuck to my side later on.

But thinking about such a thorn got me a bit annoyed again. No good, Komachi, you have to focus on your duties!

* * *

"Senpaaaai, good morniiiiiing. And good morning to you, little sis!"

Isshiki Iroha approached us with a jaunty skip and spouted off that greeting.

"Yo," my brother briefly muttered.

"Hello," I spoke as I stretched my cheek muscles.

Was I smiling yet?

We were at the community centre again, at its lobby. I guess it's just going to be the hub for all of the activities that the schools will do together. Come to think of it, the schools sure have been using this place a lot for the past months. I wonder if they got the okay for it all.

"The old man who runs this place got just a tiiiiny bit mad when I asked him about using this place for something like this again," said Isshiki as she stuck her tongue out.

I wanted to hold my head in agony.

With an annoyed look, my brother spoke, "So? I mean, looking around, we're all here, so what the heck did you do?"

Indeed, around us were Tamanawa and his crew, a mob of adorable elementary school kids, and Isshiki's own personnel. Ah, I think I see Yukino-san and Yui-san too.

"I came prepared," puffed Isshiki, her hands placed on her hips, "Some cookies and a slice of cake was all it took to get him to cave in and give the OK. Even grown men are all over my cooking!"

"...I'm not getting involved with this," said my brother with disgust, "Sounds almost like something out of an H-doujin that Zaimokuza might buy."

Uwaa, my brother is a pervert. I took a step away from him.

At the same time, though, I felt like there was something wrong with what Isshiki just said, even though it would have been something along the lines of what I would have done too.

"Eeeh, bribery? Komachi would've just given them the treats first then asked them real nicely instead," I spoke.

"How's that any differeeeeent?" pouted Isshiki.

"Isshiki's right," said my brother as he nodded, "You're still forcing them to change their mindset, though they're doing it out of obligation instead of a reward."

"Senpai, could you, like, not make it out to be so devilishly?" huffed Isshiki as she blew up her cheeks, "Well, I mean, it's not like it isn't true, though."

"Don't you try and act all innocent and cute about it because you would've gone out and said exactly what I said if you were talking with Yuigahama about it," my brother groaned.

Again, I stood on the sidelines while my brother and Isshiki had shifted their bodies until they were standing exactly face-to-face. With that kind of position, if I tried to speak up, it would just feel like butting in.

Wait a second, what am I worried about? Why would butting in even be bad in the first place?

I piped up, "Okay, okay. Let's get to work."

Simultaneously, their heads turned toward me with annoyed expressions. However, I knew that they looked annoyed from their previous conversation and not because I called out to them. Even so, I shrank back a little.

"That's right!" suddenly spoke Isshiki as she clasped her hands together, "Senpai, I need you for something. Come with me."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered while shrugging.

Isshiki immediately began trotting away. While slouching forward, my brother followed after her.

As if it was an afterthought, Isshiki stopped for a brief moment, turned her head my way, and added, "Ah, Yukinoshita-senpai and Yui-senpai want you, little sis, I think. Why don't you go that-a-way?"

That quick rest didn't manage to break her tempo. She pointed somewhere quickly, then went right back on track and strutted in a relaxed manner. Maybe she truly thought that she was in control.

I turned my back to her back. I set out to follow her suggestion, but in no way was I acting in service of an order.

* * *

I headed to where I spotted Yukino-san and Yui-san earlier, but a bunch of kids were in my way. Oh, no no, I'm not trying to sound like they're burdensome or useless or something. In fact, I would rather be surrounded by such cute kids and be slowed down than not.

When I reached the two, I saw Yukino-san carrying a clipboard and writing on it. Both she and Yui-san were calling out their names and the children responded in one way or another — putting up their hands or saying they were present. They were probably taking attendance.

"Yahallo!" I called out.

Yui-san noticed me and cheerfully returned, "Ah, Komachi-chan, yahallo!"

Looking up from her clipboard, Yukino-san gracefully greeted, "Good morning, Komachi-san."

"From the looks of it, you guys are in charge of the kids, huh," I said, looking around at the, well, actually slightly tired-looking faces.

"Yup, as you can see!" said Yui-san.

"Guess we're going with the play this time too then," I said, nodding to myself, "And the script—"

"I personally revised it to make sure that it was... up to standards," interrupted Yukino-san with a pained expression.

Then, she accidentally let out a tiny little yawn. She quickly covered her mouth and turned a tad pink.

"Sorry. That's just how it was, I suppose," she muttered while averting her eyes.

Wow, maybe she truly faced a nightmare last night — one that was outside of sleep.

"I-I'm so sorry..."

"Ahahaha..."

With a brush of her hair, Yukino-san changed topics before things got any more awkward, "Anyway, about the play, I know it's on such a short notice and that you two might not have read it fully, but it's simplistic in nature. Well, given who's performing it, that should be expected. We should be able to help the kids get the hang of it, though I'd prefer if we had a chance to get familiar with the script first."

"Yeah! Yukinon, I got your e-mail this morning and I quickly read it through, and it seems so easy that even I could understand it!"

Yukino-san and I gave stared super pitifully at poor ol' Yui-san, who somehow, despite everything, managed to still enroll in Sobu.

"I-It was just a joke..." hesitantly spoke Yui-san as she twiddled her fingers.

Yukino-san cleared her throat and got things back on track.

"I think that's everyone. Shall we move to a different room to practice?"

"Mmhmm. Okay, follow us, everyone!" Yui-san called out.

In a neat, single file line, the kids and us three made our way down the hall. I gotta say, the kids were rather well-behaved. Maybe it's because they really adored this friendly and sweet onee-san with the hair bun. Or, maybe they were following after the orders of the stricter black-haired onee-san.

The room we arrived at was super spacious. The middle of it was completely clear, the tables were pushed off to the side, and the chairs were stacked up high. You could probably get a decent workout just by running a couple laps in this place. I think the number of kids that came with us was about thirty, so this place should do nicely.

Yui-san gently urged all the kids to come in and go to the centre of the room and to line up in rows. And so they did so without grumbling even a little bit. Aw, maybe if a certain someone was being cared for this nicely in the past, he wouldn't have grown up to be the kind of cynic he was today. That's right, it's gotta be all papa's fault!

When the last kid enter the room, I headed over to the entrance to close the door. To my surprise, the last kid wasn't the last person. Following after that child was a guy with healthy blond hair, healthy looks, and a healthy smile. His style of dress was casual and trendy, though reserved enough to not notice the brand name they carry on first glance. Some of the kids (mainly the girls) turned their heads towards him and gasped.

Of course, I recognized this incredibly dashing boy. It's impossible to forget the name of the owner of that pretty face, after all. He, Hayama Hayato, was certainly of a Rank S type compared to my brother's Rank F.

"Oh? It's Hikigaya's little sister," he spoke with pleasant surprise.

"Hello!" I greeted, "Are you here to help out too?"

"Haha, I can't turn down a request from the student council president, after all," he said good-naturedly, "But it's always nice to be helping out with something like this, especially if it can help spread smiles."

His specs were simply way too high. Like, he must have absurd base stats. If I were a guy, I would totally play soccer with him.

"Ah, it's Hayato-kun!" said Yui-san as she skipped over.

"Hey. I'm glad I could make it."

"Indeed, we could use a helping hand," spoke Yukino-san as she walked over, "Good morning."

Yukino-san spoke very politely to him and with a reserved smile. Seeing that, Hayama-san dryly smiled back.

"Yeah, I thought I'd help out around, Yukinoshita-san."

For a moment, Hayama-san's friendly face crumbled, and out of his mouth left a sigh. But, he quickly transitioned it into a sort of a grunt or a yawn or whatever that kind of deep sound was as he stretched his arms.

"Sorry, I'm still a little tired from yesterday. You know. That type of thing I usually do," said Hayama-san as he adopted a more wry smile.

"You mean with your family?" asked Yui-san.

"Yuigahama-san, I'm sure it's nothing that this highly able son of theirs can't handle," sardonically spoke Yukino-san, "In any case, we should get started now that everyone's here."

That's right. I should just try enjoying it all. There's no reason not to be trying my best here, especially with all these lovely people around aching to do something fun!

"Iiiit's show time!" I exclaimed with a fist raised into the air.

I hopped over to where the children were neatly lined up. I took a chair from a stack near the wall, placed it in front of the kids and stood up on it. I became a tower, and I looked down upon the children, some of whom had wide-eyes while others tilted their heads.

"Okay! Are you kids ready to put on another absolutely outrageous show?" I announced.

"But Onee-chan, what are we doing this time?" asked a boy in the back row.

"We are doing... actually what are we doing?"

I cautiously looked towards Yukino-san and Yui-san.

"Ehehe, Komachi doesn't really know the specifics, so..."

Yukino-san looked surprised, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not send the script to you too?"

"Um, maybe..."

I unconsciously groped around my not-present bag on my right for my not-present phone. Come to think of it, thanks to the distractions here and there, I haven't even checked my phone even once this morning. And they call me a millennial. Oops.

"Well, this certainly won't do," wryly spoke Yukino-san, "Although I like your enthusiasm, I'm afraid you'll have to spend some time going over the script to be more productive. I've printed out several copies in case of this."

I stepped down from the chair. The kids' heads tilted upwards a bit less as they stared at me. My vision fell a little below the level of Yui-san's and Yukino-san's height and far below Hayama-san's height.

I silently made my way over to Yukino-san. She pulled out several thick stacks of paper.

"Ah, thanks," I muttered as I received one of the stacks from her.

It was just a minor setback. Once I've taken in this info, I'll be ready to help out again.

I sighed. It's not like I didn't read at all, but my love for reading was far below that of my dad's and of my brother's. Having to go through this entire script was much less fun for me.

"That goes for me as well," said Hayama-san.

Turning to him, Yukino-san said matter-of-factly, "Of course. I didn't even know to send you the script, after all."

"Thanks," said Hayama-san as he retrieved a copy of a script from her, "Did you type up all of this by yourself or—"

"Not entirely. It was the other school that wrote it. I just made it more... acceptable."

Yukino-san paused for a moment and looked like she was considering something. Hayama-san's gaze grew a bit sharper.

Yukino-san continued, "I did what I could do on my own."

"I see. That's good, if it's that way, isn't it? Anyway, let's go over there, Komachi-chan," abruptly spoke Hayama.

Yukino-san and Yui-san headed towards where the kids were to start things off. Hayama-san walked towards a table at the corner of the room.

I stared at Hayama-san in amazement. I've had my suspicions before, but what exactly was with him and Yukino-san?

Hayama-san suddenly turned around, noticed my gaze, and spoke self-deprecatingly, "If you're thinking that I was pitying you or something, don't be. I really don't know what the play is about either."

I shook my head and denied, "No, no, it's nothing."

Wow, he sure did misunderstand something in an unexpectedly terrible way. No, a popular guy like him might always have noticed or thought things like that. It's just that you wouldn't expect them to be so frank.

He removed two chairs from a stack and lined them up on the table. Hey, don't steal Komachi's show. She likes to show off too, once in a while. Regardless, I thanked him and graciously sat down. Nodding, he did the same.

Let's see what the crazy story Kaihin Sogo president could come up with. Oh hey, there's a synopsis on the first page. Thank you, Tamanawa. Or maybe it was Yukino-san that wrote it.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there existed a planet named Playerbase. Playerbase was subdivided into several continents, each one ruled by one or several deities. The continent of Funstation, known as the land of the free, was ruled by the twin goddesses DUAL-sama and SHOCK-sama. The continent of Teenbox, known as the walled garden of paradise, was ruled by the wealthy god Gates-sama. The continent of Uwii, known as the ageless land, was overseen by the lucky mother Heaven-sama (RIP). The continent of Winnux X, known as the land of great progress, was under the sovereignty of Newell-sama. Finally, the emergent Mohbuhlfone, known as the wild lands, was an anarchic archipelago that, nonetheless, was heading toward order day by day.

Unlike our world, Playerbase was not open to the idea of GLOBALIZATION. Each continent was SEQUESTERED into its own ECOSYSTEM, and nothing flowed between them, with the exception of SHELLS as part of the perpetual and worldwide CONSOLE WAR. Our protagonist VULKAN dreams to unify all continents into a single UNIFIED ARCHITECTURE. He recognizes the futility of EXCLUSIVITY and PROTECTIONISM within the individual ECOSYSTEMS and wishes to enlighten the world with COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE. Through his adventures of NETWORKING, he meets new COLLEAGUES and faces challenges like TARIFFS and QUOTAS. Yet, VULKAN manages to overcome all of these challenges through faith in his COLLEAGUES and convinces the deities of each continent to erase their PREJUDICES and agree to TRADE AGREEMENTS, and he achieves GLOBALIZATION.

The end.

I felt extremely thirsty. By the way, everyone knows that water evaporates when left out in the open. Maybe I was thirsty because I left my mouth wide open for far too long.

I had many, many, many, many, many things to say about this script. But I'll refrain myself from complaining because I'd fill a book doing so.

I looked toward Hayama-san. He, too, looked as bewildered as if someone had dumped water on him.

"I... I think I understand it somewhat," spoke Hayama-san in amazement, "I think the theme is that everyone should get along with each other."

"Um, could you explain how exactly you got to that idea?"

"Even so, it does feel rather unique. It's a bit hard to understand where it's coming from, though," said Hayama-san while nodding.

"Ahaha, I think you're better off not trying to understand it."

Hayama-san shook his head, "Even if it's inconvenient, it's still better to know about it."

He ran his fingers through the top edge of the sheets of paper. They rustled in an even manner as they swept past his fingers until the last page had passed by.

With a look of melancholy, Hayama-san added, "I mean, if we're going to help out with the play, we have to know the story. The context."

"Ehehe, I guess a story or theme like this is perfect for children, though. All cool and fairy tale-like," I spoke, "Well, aside from what was said in that second part of the run-through."

"Indeed, it is very... ideal," said Hayama-san.

Before I could make a retort, the door was whipped open, and I whipped my head in that direction.

"Like I said, don't treat me as a translator..."

"But how else am I suppose to understand Tamanawa? I'm leaving things up to an expert, you know."

In came Isshiki Iroha with large steps. My brother trailed in after her, and he was looking worn out already.

"Yui-senpai! And Yukino-senpai, too! How's the play coming along?"

Yui-san gave her a confident thumbs up. Yukino-san told her that she had absolutely zero things to worry about. Yaaaay.

"You two are always so reliable!" praised Isshiki.

"Then make yourself more reliable too," my brother complained, "For starters, don't bug me about Tamanawa."

"Senpai, how ruuude. Of course I can talk to him on my own. How else did I manage to organize this thing and the cooking thing? You being there just makes it easier on me."

Ah, I know that kind of annoyed face my brother put on just now. It's his "If-that-last-sentence-wasn't-in-this-context-then-I'd-fall-for-you-right-away" face.

Completely lacking in concern, my brother shooed away Isshiki, "Yes, yes. I've worked hard enough for you. It's time to take my break."

"It hasn't even been that looooong..." pouted Isshiki, "Whatever, I'll make you do something after I sort some things out."

Isshiki looked over in my direction. Her face brightened up considerably and she did a quick little wave that could almost be called cute if it wasn't so cheeky. What, was she trying to appeal to me or something?

Actually, looking more carefully, she was waving to this handsome guy with me. Oooooh, that makes more sense. Anyone who isn't a shounen harem male protagonist could figure out the implications, subtext, ulterior motive, between-the-lines, or whatever you wanted to call this.

Isshiki headed towards the door and went out again. My brother went in the exact opposite direction as her — towards us.

As he got close enough, seeing who was over here, he spoke in surprise, "Hayama? You were called here, too?.

"As you can see. It's not a big deal for me, after all."

Hayama put on his usual refreshing smile. Or at least he tried. For some reason, it looked closer to a smirk to me.

"Right..."

Becoming a bit stiff, my brother marched over to a stack of chairs and gruffly pulled a chair out from the top. He set it down in front of the table across from me and sat down, slouching forward of course.

I tried going back to my reading, but this grouchy guy started mouthing off.

"Listen, Komachi. There are times where you have to keep your talents hidden. If you're too efficient and finish early, your boss will be very happy at first, but then he'll set that early time as the new standard for you. And maybe he'll even give you more work on top of that. Never unnecessarily raise expectations like that."

"What the heck are you talking about?" I groaned.

Sometimes when he's particularly annoyed at something, he starts lecturing me about something weird that's somewhat related to what he's annoyed about. Usually I would just nod to make it seem like I understood and give him the satisfaction of teaching me something, though I accidentally forgot to do that just now. I blame Tamanawa's script.

"But isn't your boss doing those things because he trusts you more?" pointed out Hayama-san, "If it's you, Hikigaya, I would give you just a bit more work if I know that you can handle it."

Oh!? How amazingly smooth, charismatic, and leader-like! As expected of Hayama-san!

"R-Right..."

My brother added under his breath, "Like I'd ever work for you."

"Onii-chan, why can't Komachi just feel satisfied by working her hardest?" I spoke in a pout, "Unlike Onii-chan, Komachi is only three-quarters lazy."

"I already did work my hardest. In fact, I was forced to work my hardest. But what's considered my hardest barely passed that Isshiki's demands," my brother complained, "Maybe she's the one that needs to start working her hardest."

I was tempted to nod to those words. However, Hayama-san shook his head.

"No, from what I know about Iroha-chan when she manages the soccer club, she's definitely trying her hardest right now," he said.

He twisted his body around to look over at the kids scrambling to get their act together in both senses. Under the guidance of Yui-san and Yukino-san, the kids were just well-behaved enough to still have enough rowdiness to have fun.

The smile that Hayama-san had on right now wasn't the usual refreshing one that he showed to the public, nor was it the transient smirk that he had allowed himself to slip out. Rather, he had on a far-looking childish grin.

My brother muttered, "That... you sure about that, or, back then, at Destinyland—"

"No, I'm sure that what Iroha-chan is doing right now has nothing to do with that," denied Hayama.

I didn't understand. What they were talking about hardly meant a thing to me. Even with some of my misgivings, it wouldn't be hard for me to imagine that Isshiki was trying her best in preparing for this event. No matter what my brother said, I'm sure he fully did what he could. It didn't even need to be said that Hayama-san had no intention of doing things half-heartedly, otherwise he, a volunteer, wouldn't even be here right now.

I looked down at the script on the table. Even this monstrosity was part of her efforts in a way.

I shifted my legs uncomfortably. The chair creaked its message of age to match my movements of uncertainty.

"But, Hikigaya, I'm sure you know the reason for it, because at that time, not me, but you, for her... no, even from before that—"

"Aw, this script is really something. Onii-chan, take a look at this. Can you really believe that Tamanawa guy could come up with something like this?"

I shoved the script in front of my brother's mouth. If he didn't inch backwards just then, he probably would have gotten a tree-tastic snack.

He gruffly grabbed it and spent a whole eleven seconds skimming over the synopsis.

"Yikes, this is making me remember the grind to level 999 all over again," he said with a grimace, "And is this even legal? Remember what happened in Haganai?"

"Ugh, don't even talk about that, Onii-chan," I said with a frown, "Haganai left a sour taste in my mouth in more than that way."

He nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Speaking of which, because so many light novels out there are ripping off each other for ideas, it's probably not very hard to find a light novel that's loosely based on Haganai. It, too, would definitely leave a sour note and also in more ways than one."

"For sure, for sure! Um, how did we get so off-topic?"

I hadn't even noticed, but there was some sweat that had formed on my forehead. I brushed it off with my hand.

Hayama-san was watching us in wonder, as if we were mysterious, newly discovered fish.

"This 'Haganai' was prestigious enough for Sobu High's student council president to base his play off of?" he asked.

I shook my head and explained, "No, no, this play isn't based on Haganai."

"Then, what is it based on?"

"No, no, for you, Hayama-san, you reeeeally don't want to know. It's a secret," I said as I winked.

"Hey now, you can trust me with secrets. I mean..."

He darted his eyes back and forth between me and my brother.

"You two, what is your secret?"

For some reason, my brother froze and stared at Hayama-san. Oh, don't do that, you're going to make Hayama-san misunderstand about something!

Well, I wasn't really sure what Hayama-san was getting at, but my little-sister-sees-mom-dad-situation-needing-defusing senses were tingling.

"Sugar and spice and something nice," I said with a devious smile, "Just sprinkle a little affection here and there, balance it with some bitter salt so that they don't get spoiled with sweetness and—"

Then, it was my turn to receive the startled stare from my brother. Uh, it's not like we're saying anything particularly crazy right now.

"W-What's up?"

"Komachi, I have faith in you. Mom's wrong, right? I'm not actually spoiling you, right? You're not taking advantage of me, right? Your name's not Isshiki Iroha, right? Please tell me you're not actually that shrewd."

"Huh?" I croaked.

Him comparing me to Isshiki made me do a double-take. I leaned forward and showed my brother the most hollow eyes I could carve out.

Hayama-san laughed out loud (W) good-naturedly.

"I can now see why you pamper Iroha-chan so much," said Hayama-san with a wide grin, "Onii-chan just can't leave the younger ones alone, right?"

"Check your eyes," my brother spat, "It's more like I'm being blackmailed all the time."

"With what?" I asked.

"...Nothing."

He looked to the side. He tugged at his collar as if venting out heat.

Right.

Whatever it was, it was none of my concern. Actually, maybe it should have been my concern, since unreliable Isshiki was taking advantage of him to continue on with her selfish status quo. But then again, he could handle it. Then again, being able to handle pain doesn't make it any less worse.

What the heck am I thinking about? Why do I keep falling back to these worthless thoughts?

It should have been enough that I was focused on what I had to do. It should have been enough to be able to go forward with the aid of at least semi-competent team members. We were able to do something. That's why we were here in the first place. None of us had no role to play.

"Hayato-kun, we need your help!"

Yui-san skipped over to where we were. She looked rather uneasy, though she still tried her best to keep standing up as straight as she could.

"Um, o-one of the girls over there suddenly just started to um... misbehave," she stammered.

I leaned to the side and looked toward the children. Sure enough, one of the girls had her arms crossed with a sharp frown. Pouty.

Oh, I see. Yui-san sure had a good idea. She was planning on sprinkling some of Hayato-san's magical fairy dust over that girl like the little princess that she will think she is. Yikes.

Looking conflicted, but smiling nonetheless, Hayama-san stood up and followed Yui-san as she made her way back to the kids. He scratched the back of his head as if saying "I don't really know what to do about it, actually, but I'll try my best", and the ad-libbing that happens afterward will have one-hundred percent chance of success in making that girl behave well again —maybe overly well as long as Hayama-san is supervising. Being the sun that shines sure is tough. And that's why the guy who's sitting across from me right now is always the rock that sits.

By some author-running-out-of-ideas coincidence, the disruptive door opened disruptively, disrupting the kids that were currently standing idly while Hayama-san was kindly speaking his kind words to the now kind-looking girl. Wait, it's not disruptive if they aren't doing anything. His fairy dust worked sure worked quickly! Anyway, the one who popped in was, as easily guessed, Isshiki Iroha.

"Well, looks like my break time is over," begrudgingly spoke my brother as he stood up as well.

"Onii-chan, you're pretty eager. And I kinda meant that too because I thought you wouldn't stand up on your own like that."

"At this point, it's more of a pain to be trying to squeeze out more of my break than just giving up and going to Isshiki."

"Komachi thought giving up meant stopping working."

He shrugged. With his usual slouching and pocketed hands, off he went. Isshiki received him with a stupid amount of joy, likely more than happy to be able to order someone around.

I caught Isshiki's eye. She nodded just once my way without dropping even a drizzle of that rather sticky honey. I shrugged in response. Isshiki's response to my response was a confused tilt of her head. She got on her tip-toes and whispered something in my brother's ear. He profusely nodded with a look of ridiculousness that seemed to say "You can't actually be that dumb?"

I turned back to the script in front of me. I let that unreliable student council president carried by the reliable senpai do their thing. Behind me, a super refreshing guy, a crazy cuddly girl, and a cutely mature girl were busy teaching the lines and the motions of the crazy play to the kids.

My job right now was— wait, what exactly am I supposed to be doing right now? Just read this thing? That's it? What about after that?

I broke out into a cold sweat. I looked over my shoulder. Those three top-chaste high school students looked like they got everything together. If I butted in now, it probably wouldn't do much. At worst, I might even make things worse. I didn't even know half of the script yet.

But wait. Didn't I already decide to do what I could do to the best that I could do it at? I was told to read the script, so that's what I should be doing right now. Yes, I only had to do this for now, and it will pave the way for other things.

I did a great, big stretch. My three-quarters lazy bones cracked comfortably, if not a little grossly. It was time to show the world the reading ability of a future Sobu High student!

* * *

After I got the gist of the whole script, I asked Yukino-san what I could be doing. She told me to just watch the kids and catch any mistakes that she couldn't catch. So I did. And I sat, and I watched. And I watched Yukino-san succeed in catching every single mistake.

I asked Yui-san what I could be doing. She said that the kids were pretty good already, but would be even better if they could practice with the props. I was sent to room A to get them. The people at room B told me there wasn't any props there and told me to check room B. They weren't there either. So I went to room C. Then, I went to room D. After I got to room 2, I decided to go back to where everyone was to tell them I couldn't find them. As I entered the room, I almost bumped into Isshiki who had come while I was gone, to my annoyance. She almost dropped her box of fake swords and shields too.

Whenever one of the little boys got overly violent with a plastic sword, Yukino-san would make them shiver to submission and Yui-san would make them blush to behaving (Yukino-san would look at her body in depression every time this happened). I tried disciplining them too, but they just treated me like someone their own age.

I eventually sucked it up and decided to ask Isshiki what I could do. When I found her, she told me it was time to go home.

"By the way, little sis, keep trying your best at it!"

As she pranced away, I crossed my arms. While staring needles at her retreating back, I thought of my accomplishments today. I arrived at just one line.

Best at what?


	5. Interlude

_**Interlude: Her Reason Is.**_

All it takes is turning up my eyes and gently squeezing my hands at my chest. I speak softly, gently, faintly, like a floating, fluttering flower petal.

"I can't?"

"If it's not too much, then..."

Sometimes I stroll in with big strides. I place my hands on my hips and thrust my body out like a flag. My voice carries. I wield myself, and I flash my soul until I spark.

"There's no point in stopping now."

"We're doing it, and that's that."

But sometimes those don't work. That's where some light coercion comes in. It seems to work. Most of the time, it does.

I can see it, though. None of all that was ever needed. Maybe it was just that easy. Or, maybe they didn't work in the first place.

Maybe I was the one that was falling into sweet murmurings. Perhaps I was the one that was pushed forward unreasonably. There may have been a point where sweat was trickling down my own back.

Then, I stomp right up. The stomping comes right back. The two of us cross our arms. The head-scratching, the eyes looking aside, and the obvious look of annoyance — I see all of that, and my arms become too floppy to cross. Yet, despite everything, the annoyance becomes directed not at me but at the problem. I have to turn around because, while I was spending just a little while being still and wide-eyed, the feet have already gone ahead, and the hands have already began to reach out to take hold of what couldn't be carried by me.

I unconsciously grasp thin air. There simply wasn't anything there. It was taken care of. I look up. I get told to get a move on. I do so because it's not too troublesome like this.

For just a fleeting moment, I let myself wander. I feel myself. There is something spreading on my face. It's a little creamy and a little puffy. It's coated with a layer of sugar. I let it rise. I am suddenly pricked by a hint of spice. It's intoxicating.

I return. I go back to being both aflutter and on fire. Yet, I let myself be carried away. I don't resist, even if I pretend to do so.

Then, when concentration is on the task, I cast a sidelong glance. I confirm full attention. I catch sight of no reluctance, only earnestness. The gaze is returned, and the only complaint given is to stop with the watchful eyes when the job is being done. Again, I turn around and hide my face, otherwise my giggle might be seen.

No reward, unknown incentive, seriousness and focus, hard but soft. Is this a part of it, that genuine thing?


	6. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4: Admittedly, there are times when Isshiki Iroha has it all wrong.**_

I watched as Kawasaki Taishi-kun walked over to the back of the truck filled to the brim with boxes. He easily lifted a stack of three. It was nothing to giggle over. More like, I was a bit jealous of his strength. It must be really convenient.

Saying that today was a nice day would be a boring way of putting it. Although, it was true that the weather today was definitely nowhere near either extremes. The temperature was just decent enough such that thoughts of breathing out white mist would be nothing but memories. You can thank the sun that's playing peek-a-boo with the clouds for that. Although, the sun being whimsical and partly hidden also meant that the temperature was not high enough to walking outside without a sweater. Still, because it was neither too cold nor too hot, it was the perfect day for moving your body and doing some work.

The community event was almost underway. It was time to gather everything we needed, get the stuff that we needed over to where it's being held, and start setting things up. It's going to take place at Sobu High, which is where both the stuff and ourselves, the (loosely-speaking) proud hosts, were currently at.

Why was it taking place at Sobu? Apparently, the places agreed upon as best were at either of the two high schools — Kaihin Sogo or Sobu. Neither of our wonderful presidents wanted to bear the brunt of the responsibility, so they settled on a TRULY RANDOMIZED METHOD of SELECTION, which apparently meant that our fantastic presidents settled the issue with rock-paper-scissors (Hikigaya, 20XX). After that, apparently, the burden of listening to a certain first-year high school girl's loud and obnoxious complaints fell upon my brother.

For some reason, I was stuck to the boring task of shuffling boxes from place to place. I had eventually gotten to know the script to the children's play in-and-out, but, apparently, we were lacking helping hands in certain other, apparently as equally as exciting, areas. That's how the mistress of apparentness put me here. Unfortunately, her thought process had been the same for the past few days as well, so what I had been doing up until now was basically this.

Then, _somebody_ pissed me off. Well, not really, since I knew that Taishi-kun liked to sneak bites out of my homemade lunch once in a while. It's just that I accidentally forgot to pretend to not notice once a few days ago, and his childish brain jumped to conclusions, followed by intense apologizing and prostration. Since we needed extra hands, I gladly took advantage of Taishi-kun's will to "do anything for [Hikigaya-san]!" and, well, kind've took advantage of his vulnerable heart with a cold shoulder that was half-serious. And so, here he was. Don't worry, I'm still feeling a little guilty about it.

I hoisted just one box with my scrawny toothpick arms that were, nonetheless, a part of why I was so darn cute.

"I'll just follow you," said Taishi-kun without a hint of tension on his face, "I don't know this place at all. But I guess it's a good time to learn, because I'm definitely going to get in."

"Mmhmm, we'll see..." I said, trying my best not to grimace from the heavy weight.

It's not like I knew the campus like the back of my hand either. What I knew was pretty much limited to the area around where the Service Club's room is. Luckily for us, the room that the school gave us permission to store these boxes at around the same area as the clubroom. Yay. On the other hand, that meant that I didn't get to explore some other areas of the school this time as well. Like seriously, why not? If life was like a visual novel, would it be because the artist wasn't given enough time to draw more backgrounds?

Anyway, one way to get to that building was passing by the big oval track, so we began heading in that direction. As I struggled with my box, I noticed that there were people running on the track. Looking more closely, they were all girls in their loose, short-sleeved gym uniforms running together as a block. This must be a track-and-field club sweating it out in preparation for some inter-school competition.

"How nice..." muttered Taishi-kun as he, with perfectly steady steps, stared at the athletic girls in wonder.

"Oh? I guess you're already tired of girls your own age, huh," I said in monotone.

"N-No, not at all! I was just a little surprised... well, I mean, you know..."

He fell silent, turned a little red and hung his head. Now, now, there was no need to be ashamed. The male adolescent heart sure was squishy.

He didn't stay like that for a long time, though. Eventually, his eyes began to wander all over the place, taking in all of the high school sights with the curiosity of a cat (I'm already picturing Yukino-san twitching).

It was Saturday, but, like the track-and-field club athletes and ourselves, there were other people here as well. A couple students, probably of the gardening club, were kneeling down on a patch of healthy black dirt with miniature spades in their hands. A few students stood seemingly awkwardly close to each other staring fixedly at some point high up. Well, it didn't seem as awkward when you actually look up as well to see the flying contraption whizzing through the air. Wait, is that thing fully automated? That's super dangerous. Peering at the windows, just a small number of the rooms had bodies that were busy inside. It's hard to tell what they were doing inside from here, but knowing how high-end Sobu is, it's not impossible to imagine that some of them were gathered there to do some homework and study together.

The prestigious Sobu High really does gather a lot of motivated people. Well, there's at least one exception.

"Wow, I think it's kind've nice, with all the things that you could be doing," commented Taishi-kun, "I always ask my sister what it's like to be in high school, but she always tells me that there's nothing that's really exciting."

"Aren't there some pretty nice clubs at middle school already? And, knowing that your older sister is, well, like _that_ , don't you think that it's the only thing she can say?" I criticized.

I inwardly apologized to Kawasaki Saki for talking rudely about her. I was speaking mostly from my own experience, though.

"No, no. I'm sure that, even for her, there has to be something! Like... Like... Anyway, I won't know if I don't ask."

I inwardly apologized to Kawasaki Saki in the stead of her ungrateful little brother.

"Eh? What's the point if you know that she'll just say 'whatever' again or something," I said as I sent that idiot a disapproving look.

"I-I mean, there has to be something!" said Taishi-kun, looking awfully convinced, "If I ask her enough, I'm sure she'll think about it more and tell me something! I mean, as long as she doesn't get annoyed with me asking."

"At least you know when to give up..." I said in exasperation, "Girls hate it if you're waaaay too persistent."

He blinked several times and spoke in utter confusion, "Huh? Really? Is that how it works?"

"Idiiiiooooooooot."

Rather than looking hurt or annoyed, Taishi-kun tilted his head as if a giant question mark was pushing it sideways. Well, he'll eventually figure out what kind of persistence is acceptable and what kind of people he should or shouldn't be persistent with. Taishi-kun, fight on!

"That said, Hikigaya-san, I thought that you of all people would tell me to keep trying to talk to my older sister or something. Like maybe you would say that she would open up her heart or something like that."

He stopped walking. Coincidentally, I grinded to a halt as well. Looking over at him, he placed his boxes on the ground. At first I thought that he got tired, but he began rearranging the boxes so that each box was in a different position in the stack from before.

"Sorry about that. It's less awkward if the biggest one's on the bottom."

I shook my head and spoke, "It's fine."

My shaky arms were starting to feel sore from supporting a weight that I wasn't used to. I put my box down as well to relieve my arms a bit. Having lost the load, my arms stopped feeling like they were being pulled from the socket. However, the shaking didn't stop.

"Is it still far from here, that classroom?" asked Taishi-kun.

"Nope, we're almost there. I've been following this same path to the Service Club for a while now," I replied.

"The Service Club, huh. That's where Onii-san hangs out at, right? I definitely gotta remember this path then!" he spoke with a somehow renewed vigour.

Oh boy. Persistence can also get annoying between guys too. Though, I'm also sure that Taishi-kun doesn't even need to get to the point of persistence as he already annoys my brother just by being present.

We took up our boxes again. Once again, I led the way without steadiness while Taishi-kun followed after me with no signs of weariness.

Speaking of persistence, it's because of a certain someone's irresponsibility that I keep ending up doing things like this. I only went along with it because there wasn't much wiggle room, given how few people we had, but now that Taishi-kun is here, I should be put to use in some place where I can contribute more.

What a pain.

* * *

The event was costly. Preparation for it sucked up time and money. That's why there's no budget left for feeding everyone, so make sure to bring your own lunches, teehee! Or so I've been told.

It wasn't really that much of a bother bringing my own food. No really, I enjoyed making them, being the one of the main chefs of the Hikigaya household. I wasn't exactly one to brag, but my superior cooking demands that my food should only be eaten hot. Thus, I sought out a microwave.

I had asked the braided secretary where on Sobu I could access one. Widely and kindly smiling, she told me that she would be alright with me using the one in the student council room. I was about to question who exactly owned that thing, but I stopped myself. I realized that whatever made its way in that room belonged to the student council as a whole, therefore, it was fine if the secretary let me use it. Even if it belonged to a certain president. Teehee.

And so, here I was, staring at the gridded window of the microwave, looking at the slowly spinning bento box lit by a dim orange light. No, I would say that carrying boxes was more fun than this since I had Taishi-kun to make fun of— I mean, talk to. But now, I'm all alone. I could have searched for my brother or Yukino-san and Yui-san, but I figured I'd give them some time by themselves. Hehehe.

But, some time alone was fine too. It's not like I needed to fool around all day trying to get someone's attention like some buffoon. It's all in the Hikigaya loner gene.

Ding. It was only after I reflexively opened the microwave door that I realized that the microwaving had stopped. What was this called again, classical conditioning? Anyway, I mindlessly grabbed hold of the box, only to quickly withdraw my hand because it was so damn hot! What's the deal with this microwave? It's much stronger than the one we have at home!

I dealt with that heat by undergoing the age-old, complex technique of waiting until it was cold enough to handle.

I pulled up a chair until it was lined up with the window. I sat down on it and began eating. The bit of sunshine that hugged the left side of my body made me feel warm and cozy.

Comfortable. A worry-free life is a fun-filled life.

Um, no. I'm seriously way too laid back right now. I mean, all I have to do after this is maybe carry some more stuff or help clean up somewhere. Even if I was a bit slow, it wouldn't drag the whole thing down much. I wasn't in a position where I would be worrying that the lateness of some shipment would jeopardize our plans or feeling that I needed to be in three-and-sixty-seven-hundredths places at once.

Okay, even I'm tired of thinking to myself this same annoying thing. I'm going to really badger Isshiki until she caves in and gives me something better to do. Though, the fact that she even needs to cave in to begin with is not something to be proud of.

I gazed outside the window as I ate. I looked at the trees thin with leaves, preparing in the spring to take advantage of all that light coming in the summer. I looked at portions of the cyan sky picture peeking between tufts of clouds that appeared to be retreating.

Well, maybe I will indulge in this brief period of relaxation. I'll just get Isshiki out of my mind for now. Komachi works very, very hard almost as if she is compensating for someone else, but even Komachi would like to laze around all day, especially if Komachi is doing so to avoid studying.

I laid down my bento box on my lap, entwined my fingers together, and did a huge, long stretch. Of course, my springy, youthful body filled to the brim with sugary energy didn't creak, crack or crumble. Well, maybe just a little.

While I was converting stress of the mind to stress of the muscles, the door was flung open. Luckily, no dent in the wall was made thanks to the spring that rattled like a snake's tail upon collision.

"Oh, you were here?"

The intruder— no, the owner of this room, Isshiki Iroha, entered the room, looking both surprised and curious. Is the relaxing time over?

"Mmhmm. Thanks for letting me use the microwave," I jested.

"Um, no problem?" spoke Isshiki as she tilted her head.

It looked like she didn't understand. Well, that's fine. No, that's good, actually. That wasn't very mature of me. I mean, I had decided to make a request with her.

Isshiki eyed the bento box I had on my lap as she made her way over to the microwave. She lit up with intrigue.

"Oh, so you can cook! Good, good," she pompously spoke while nodding many times to herself, "Senpai's little sister is very reliable."

"I see... thanks, I think," I cautiously said.

"Maybe part of why Senpai's like that is because you spoil him or something. Just kidding!" she said before giggling.

She withdrew a box of food from her bag and slid it in the microwave. I switched my attention back to the city- nature outside the window. I quietly ate. The hum of the microwave was what filled the sound-space in the room because my well-mannered, petite mouth can chew gracefully and silently. Listlessness dominated.

To be honest, I wasn't really focusing on anything outside. It was hard to do so with another person standing around in the same room as you. Ordinarily, I would be shifting around a bit, awkwardly trying to come up with something to say. Right now, though, I only felt like shoving forkfuls of green salad into my mouth.

I liked eating good food. If all I had to do was eat, that would be great.

Ding. That ended. I heard the microwave door popping open. After a few seconds, I heard it slam shut. I heard the low-pitched groan-like sound of chair's legs being dragged across the floor starting out relatively quiet and becoming louder and louder until it ended in front of me.

I turned my head to the front. The first thing that my eyes met with was a divide separating twin small mounds down the loosely hanging collar. The lowered body settled itself onto the chair facing directly towards me.

Isshiki flashed a greedily hungry grin.

"Itadaki— oh wait."

She unveiled the lid of her bento box that was seated on her lap. Well, I won't comment on its contents. What I will comment on is the confectionary that she also pulled out of her bag next. Gosh, darn, that was one of the nicest-looking cupcakes I've seen in a while.

"That's... that's actually pretty good-looking..." I murmured in amazement.

"Isn't it!? I'm not one to be bragging, but I'm pretty good at making sweets!" exclaimed Isshiki as she proudly pounded her chest.

So she didn't buy it? I guess she allocated her talent points to dessert-making. I wish she could've spent some on other skills, though.

She began digging in. I resumed my own meal. Again, my eyes were naturally drawn to the more-or-less peaceful world outside the window. It's amazing how I'm in full admiration of the world today. Too bad Komachi isn't smart enough to be writing poems. Ah, the wasted potential.

Man, I really didn't want to hang around here, or else I felt like I would be sucked into whatever trouble Isshiki would cause. Was that a fair way to think? Maybe. For better or for worse, it's not like she has been doing anything noticeably extreme. Rather, what was wrong was subtle. If it was someone like Taishi-kun, no warning bells would ever go off in him.

For instance, though Isshiki Iroha had decided to hold a community event, I was certain that her motives for doing so were not very charitable. I couldn't grasp it.

Yet, anyone (aside from Taishi-kun) could tell that Isshiki was just the type of person to grasp people in her hand give them a couple squeezes. Sometimes I liked to softly push some buttons, but Isshiki would bombard them all.

Right, before I would forget it, I needed to make the request. I faced Isshiki.

"Hey, about the work that you're giving me, I kinda want to talk about it."

Isshiki looked up at me and said, "Oh, is it too much for you?"

I felt like some branch inside me snapped. This girl can always succeed in accidentally pissing me off.

"No, it's just that the things you're making me do are a little... well, a little too easy or something," I said as I tried to hold a smile, "I think that I can handle just a bit more than this, you know?"

"Too easy, huh..." muttered Isshiki, "Yes, yes."

She nodded to herself and grinned as if she got an answer on a quiz right. It was the "I knew that" look.

"I am happy that you want to help out more, but it's fiiiiiiine! I've got everything under control, so you just continue what you're doing!" answered Isshiki.

I didn't doubt that the entire plan was going well. With the way things are now, we'll hit our goal without too much of an issue. That's what being in control meant — not failing. But not failing is one thing. How do we make it better? There's another things that leaders worry like efficiency. Even Isshiki knows this, since she did talk about specialists. However, she's overlooking it right now.

"Well... I mean, some people must be a bit tired of helping the kids rehearse every day, right? Tell you what, I'll jump right in with them or replace them and let them do something else for a change. Maybe they'll be less tired."

For some reason, Isshiki looked super surprised at my response, her eyebrows raised. Was what I said really that unexpected?

"i see... so that's not the same, but... in the end, that part would be the same, huh..." muttered Isshiki.

I said uneasily, "Um, Isshiki?"

Again, Isshiki nodded to herself, and I knew that she had decided to do something by her own volition yet again.

"Okay, then... since you're up for it, why don't you do some stuff with me?"

I was speechless. Yet this wasn't something I was against, so I could only nod.

* * *

To: Kawasaki Taishi

Subject: Do your best!

Change of plans. I'm going to go help out somewhere else. If you need help or need something to do, just ask someone like the secretary with the braids.

From: Kawasaki Taishi

Subject: Re

Whaaaaaaaat!? Where are you headed off to? I mean, I can help you out too, you know.

To: Kawasaki Taishi

Subject: Re2

Nah, that's fine. You'll probably be more helpful carrying stuff around like the strong man you are.

From: Kawasaki Taishi

Subject: Re3

Huuuuuh!? Hikigaya-san, really, I can help you out, that's why I agreed to come!

From: Kawasaki Taishi

Subject: Re4

Please reply.

* * *

I followed Isshiki as she headed down the hall from behind. It was easier this way since I didn't know where we were going. She swung her arms in great back-and-forths alternatively to match her vigorous strides.

Isshiki suddenly whipped around and beamed at me.

"I originally didn't think you'd be interested, buuuuut we're going to meet up and talk about some last minute details."

No, no, it's not a matter of being interested or not. Wasn't it important for all of the people involved with organizing the event to know this kind of stuff?

"We're going to meet up with the rest of the student council. Oh, and Senpai, Yui-senpai and Yukinoshita-senpai too."

It's almost like she included those three people as part of the student council. Isn't it time for the daughter to leave the comfort of her birthplace?

"Don't look at me like that, little sis," pouted Isshiki, "I know meetings are annoying, buuut the actual work comes after that. Although, that's annoying too."

Please don't put words in my mouth and take your work seriously, Miss President.

Suddenly it occurred to me that we were walking away from the student council room even though we were meeting up with the student council.

"Exactly where are we going?" I asked, "I mean, wouldn't the meeting be in the student council room?"

"Nope, that's fine," said Isshiki, "We're going to the Service Club room. Senpai and the rest were already in it or nearby, so I mailed everyone to tell them to meet there instead."

She gave me a thumbs up. I'm sure it was no big deal to the club leader Yukino-san, but that was awfully brash of Isshiki. She may be the student council president, but she doesn't have exclusive ownership to every classroom in the school. Like, I got angry when my dad, the owner of our house, went into my room one day all of a sudden and I threw my pillow at him, causing him to make an incredibly crestfallen look as if he was abandoned on the side of the road.

All of the other people were already in the clubroom by the time Isshiki and I arrived. Everyone looked a little more tense compared to the previous days. It couldn't be helped since we're hitting the big day soon.

My brother, Yui-san and Yukino-san sat on one side of the table while the student council sat on the other side. Isshiki went to sat with her student council. I went to the side of the Service Club to balance the numbers. Or, well, you know. If I was exactly like my brother, I would give a more cringe-worthy reason.

The three of them passed me a glance and/or nods as I sat. Hey, don't get the wrong idea, we've already greeted each other earlier. Though, the fact that they didn't greet me again does show that we're in a serious meeting mode.

Isshiki withdrew just a single piece of paper from her bag. I guess there really wasn't much left to discuss. That said, it's possible that the few things to be discussed could be critically important. Well, even so, we're pretty decided on even those kinds of things at this stage, so I doubt it'd be like that.

The small president Isshiki cleared her throat and began speaking, "Before I get to what I'm going to say, does anyone have anything that they need to say?"

Eyes were glued on Isshiki, and they remained that way. There was no response. Well, save for my brother's wholly unnecessary comment.

"I guess we're going gold then. Or white as in a white box."

"Gold? White box?" muttered Yui-san as she tilted her head.

Although it should have been fine for Yui-san to not know what those terms mean, somehow I was not okay with it. She needs to fix her problem, whatever it is. Not paying attention to certain things or something.

"Nooo, Senpai," rudely spoke Isshiki, "If we were completely ready we wouldn't be here. Nincompoop."

Yukino-san abruptly turned her head to the side and held a hand to her mouth while uncontrollably vibrating. My brother simply frowned. For some reason, I felt as annoyed as if Isshiki had nabbed something from me.

"First of all, about the opening speech, I—"

My brother immediately interrupted, "Isshiki, that's your job. I've had enough of writing stuff for you."

"I know!" spouted Isshiki in displeasure, "I'm just asking about what I should say and stuff. I just want to, like, check if it's okay. Yukinoshita-senpai?"

Although normally, she should be checking with her fellow student council members on something like this, I guess there's no harm in taking advantage of the brain of the number one student in the school for a speech. Isshiki was off the hook for this one.

"Fair enough," Yukino-san spoke, neither happy nor unhappy, "I don't believe that it would be that big of a deal, but what are you going to say?"

"Thanking everyone for coming, thanking the staff involved in making this fair and wishing everyone a good time?"

I groaned. That wasn't very creative at all. What was the point with checking with us if it was going to be cut-and-paste out of the usual template?

"It's, uh, not entirely exciting," I said, "Why don't we add just a little bit of spice to it?"

"Eh, how do we do that?" asked Isshiki as she tilted her head, "It's just a bit of a blurb anyway."

"True. Not everyone who will be coming will be there during the opening. But if you don't jump start them, they might wander around awkwardly for the first few moments."

I was speaking from experience. Okay, let's not let my mind wander in that direction before I get depressed again.

"Uh huh. And what do you think I should say?" questioned Isshiki.

"Just use a really energetic tone and say 'Let's have a goooood time together!' or something. Maybe suggest some activities to do or shows to watch later in the day. It's not that much, but it will at least give them some direction."

"Indeed, without motivation, there will be no response," Yukino-san agreed with me.

"Hmm, I guess I'll think about that more later," said Isshiki.

At least pretend to act like you're taking my suggestion to heart.

Isshiki coughed once before continuing plainly, "And about the closing speech..."

"Just do what Komachi said," my brother interrupted again, "We'll look at it over after you're done. Okay, next."

How very rude of him and of me with the smirk I made as he said that.

"Senpai I— never mind. The rest is just the annoying stuff."

Isshiki began talking about the administrative details like the final schedule of events and informing the right authorities about the final details. However, things like this weren't really my responsibility or even the Service Club's responsibility. They were things that the student council was mostly involved with. Checking things over with everyone is a good thing though. I'll give her that.

"And that's it. Let's get this over with before my regret of holding such a painfully large event makes me stop working."

Then why do it in the first place?

* * *

I followed Isshiki out of the Service Club room after the meeting. I suppose that the "some stuff" with her started now. I followed her from behind as she headed down the hallway. About ten steps later, she stopped, turned around and looked at me curiously.

"Huh? Did you need me for something else, little sis?"

"Um... I'm going to help you out on that stuff, you know," I responded.

Come on, did she already forget?

"What? Oh, that, well, the meeting, um—"

I stared daggers at her to prevent her from saying that the meeting was the "some stuff".

"Th-That, well, I wasn't planning on... well, okay, I guess you can help out with _that_ ," wearily spoke Isshiki.

I caught up to her side and we began walking again.

"And _that_ would be..."

Isshiki stammered, "Um... after all that, it would've been bad for me to ask them but, uh..."

Making up her mind, Isshiki sighed. Her next words were loudly blunt and desperately to the point.

"Help me write up the opening and ending speeeeeches! I have no clue exactly what I should say!"

"Didn't you say you had some ideas and that you would think more about them later?" I interrogated.

"Thaaat's, well, maybe if you gave me like two weeks I could write it..." Isshiki uneasily answered.

"No, no, no, no, that's way too long," I said in astonishment, "We have only a few days left."

I was one-hundred percent sure that the super long time needed for her to write it was not because of perfectionism.

Well, even though this was annoying in yet another way, something like this would be far more fulfilling to help out with. As annoying as this was, it was far better than forcing my skinny arms to lift heavy boxes. I mean, it was annoying, but it was a tolerable annoyance. Annoyance sure does exist in many, many forms.

However, for Isshiki who just declared that she was inept at writing, I'm sure that it was even more annoying. It can't be helped.

"Well, alright, but you're going to be the one writing the whole thing. I'll just give you ideas when you're stuck and help you edit."

"Of course," puffed up Isshiki, "It has to be up to high school standards. I don't want people to look down on me."

Well, that's not helping you out very much when you're insulting the very people you're asking to help.

We reached the student council room. Isshiki went to her desk, sat down and turned on her laptop. I spotted the chair I was sitting on earlier and moved it beside Isshiki.

Isshiki kicked her legs back and forth and groaned, "Sooo slow! Why can't this thing start up any faster?"

I placed a hand on my hip and said, "Well, whining about it won't make it work faster. Believe me, whining doesn't even begin to motivate something that doesn't work."

And yes, I was speaking from experience, but no, I was not referring to my past computer usages.

"Yes, yes, Senpa— I mean, little sis," said Isshiki in monotone.

I sat down beside Isshiki even more closely to her than during any other day in order to get a good view of the laptop monitor. A faint scent of Anna Sui tickled my nose. Geh. Why did I even recognize the brand? At least it made sense for a young girl like me to do that, but imagine if I was some guy in the second year of high school or, even worse, a way older male light novel author. That would be disgusting.

Well then, let's get started.

So I started doing what I was supposed to do.

Wait, what was I supposed to do right at this moment? I was supposed to be helping Isshiki, but I couldn't exactly help her if she hasn't even the speech typed yet.

"Uh, Isshiki, what exactly should I do right now?" I asked.

"Hmm... I guess you can look over the pamphlet for the event. The document it's saved as anyway. We were going to check it over later, but with you here, we might as well get a head start."

She pointed to a laptop at another desk, gracing me with the permission to use it. Finally, I could get to do something that was a game-changer.

I moved over there, turned on that laptop and, like Isshiki's laptop, I was stuck on a black screen with white text for a long time. Ugh, just how old were these computers?

Isshiki called out, "Heeeey, what do you think about this line: 'the lovely spring invites us into fun'."

I shook my head in disapproval and said, "No, that sounds way too, uh, poetic and formal. This isn't something where you come wearing a long dress, right?"

"Then what about 'let's welcome spring with some fun'?"

"I guess."

The computer had fully started up by now. Several documents were laid out on the desktop. I clicked on the one that said pamphlet, and it popped out in all of its green and pink glory. It looks polished; it wouldn't look bad at a glance if it was printed right this instance. It was my job to pick at the unpolished things that you couldn't see right away: possible typos, awkward wordings, and stuff like that.

"Hmm, do you think I should talk about the play first?" asked Isshiki.

"Maybe. It is our feature event," I replied.

I read through the pamphlet. The part about where to seek advice and help especially in an emergency was awfully, almost unnecessarily detailed. Maybe they got Yukino-san to write this?

"How long should this speech be?"

"Well, it's not something important enough for people to want to sit through for a long time, so keep it short and sweet."

Okay, Isshiki's interrupting me far too often. Am I going to have to babysit her by her laptop at this rate?

"Alright, I'm finished the first part. Can you come over and cheeeeck?"

"After I finish this."

Isshiki stopped asking me stuff for a while, probably realizing (or at least I hope she is realizing) that I needed to focus on my own task.

From what I could tell about the pamphlet, there wasn't much to change. Maybe Isshiki was right about the high school standards thing. Although it's still off-putting, I'm in no hurry to better my language skills. My brother can keep his spot in the school rankings.

My work was done after using the comments tool to indicate that the phrase "Fun preferably for one or, less recommended, for many!" should be changed. I stretched my arms back and basked in the victory of a job quickly done, though, nonetheless, well-done.

Alright, maybe I will babysit little Isshiki whose speech so desperately needs loving.

I went over and sat beside Isshiki again. As I did so, Isshiki leaned back and stretched out her body, extending her arms out in a V. Her right hand, balled up in a fist, nearly struck me in the nose. She didn't even notice probably thanks to how euphoric that stretch was. Or, maybe she was pretending not to notice.

"Scroll up," I said.

"I was going toooo."

"Then do it."

Isshiki did as I said obediently like she should have had the courtesy of doing before.

Isshiki moved only her eyeballs at me and muttered, "Well?"

I read her work. Despite all of the earlier uncertainty and questioning, I didn't really see anything glaringly bad. I reached over to the keyboard and touchpad to fix some minor mistakes.

"Hehe, pretty good, right?" boasted Isshiki.

"...Right."

Although, I would like to point out that there was a difference between doing something correctly and making it interesting.

I let Isshiki regain control of the laptop. She, well, not-so-gladly resumed her work.

I couldn't help but let out a yawn. All of this reading and writing in front of computers sure was draining. You would think that you could go on almost forever since you're just sitting down. That's just the physical side, though. My brain felt like mush.

"Tired already? That's why my stuff is haaaaard work," said Isshiki without taking her eyes from the screen.

"It's not like this is my first time doing stuff like this, you know," I said before I sighed.

I shook my head to brush off her snide comment. I re-focused myself, and at the instant that I laid my eyes on the screen again, I saw an incredibly awkward phrase. Seriously, what's with "childlike features abundant in the later play"?

Isshiki continued to type, and she continued pestering me with requests to check over what she wrote if it made sense. I read and I re-read over and over. At one point, I told her to delete the last sentence she wrote and she got a little moody. At another point, she deleted an entire paragraph which I thought was okay, and I was the one that got moody. Ah, I definitely don't want to become an editor when I grow up.

Suddenly, there was knocking at the door. Isshiki and I turned our heads towards the direction of the noise.

"Come iiiiin," invited Isshiki.

The one who entered was my brother. He had a look of concern on his face.

"Hey, Isshiki, got a minute?" he sternly spoke.

He simply nodded towards me to affirm my existence. H-Hey, is there something serious going on?

Isshiki sprung up from her chair and skipped towards my brother.

"What is it, Senpai?"

"What gives? The things we ordered for the play aren't here yet," he complained.

"Huh? That's strange," spoke Isshiki in confusion, "I thought I told Tamanawa to get it."

"What? I heard that Hiratsuka-sensei had picked it up for us."

"That's for the ingredients for the takoyaki, Senpai."

My brother scratched his head, "I'm lost. Then the reason why Orimoto was wandering around out front... crap."

Isshiki looked at him in contempt and said, "Senpai, did you try to put your moves on that girl and make her forget about it as she backed away in disgust?"

"No, you idiot."

He knocked her lightly on the forehead. Isshiki yelped and profusely rubbed the spot that wasn't even red.

"Senpaaai... even my own parents have never hit me before..." she said in a falsely depressed tone with exaggerated sniffing.

"I swear I've heard you use that line before, but even if you hadn't, it's such a clichéd line. You're losing your touch, Isshiki. Maybe such a large event really was too much for you," my brother said in exasperation.

Isshiki countered, "You just want to skip out on work again. Anyway, if they aren't here yet, then _you_ need to go pick them up yourself."

My brother cleared his throat before speaking in a more businesslike manner, "No, I'm sure we can work something out."

Isshiki shook her head, "Nooooope. Go do it."

"I'm sure there's a much better way to do this Isshiki. Let's think this through before we—"

Isshiki unbuttoned her vest and flashed her front to my brother like some weird pervert. Hey, exactly what was she doing? When she did that, a long strip of paper fell to the ground.

"Nevermind, I'll get right to it. Give me the address."

My brother attempted to scoop up that piece of paper, but Isshiki beat him to it. He put on a defeated look. He resignedly walked out of the room as if heading to a funeral.

Just like the other day, there was no room for me to intrude during that exchange. It didn't have much to do with me, so I really couldn't say anything.

Yet, the reason why it had little to do with me was because I wasn't nearly as involved in all of this as much as the girl beside me. No matter how well or poorly I thought she handled things, it couldn't be denied that Isshiki was at the centre.

Isshiki resumed her typing. I did point out a few typos here and there, but she no longer asked me any big questions. For some reason, she looked elated. Whether or not she was conscious of it, she stared at the screen with a large grin.

I simply sat solemnly, acting as unutilized insurance.

* * *

Isshiki's typing and, for what it's worth, my editing lasted until the sun was ready to leave. Everyone else had already left by the time we were done. I had told my brother to go home ahead of me, and I was sure that he took the opportunity to spend some time with Yukino-san and Yui-san. Well, at least I hope he was.

I found myself awkwardly walking side-by-side with Isshiki down the orange-lit road. Well, it wasn't exactly side-by-side since she was about a quarter of a step ahead of me.

"That took waaaay too long," said Isshiki.

"Uh huh."

"I'm really tired..."

"Right."

The words we exchanged were skeletal, dry, and painful to squeeze out.

Both she and I were people who usually found words easily, perhaps even more easily than finding thoughts.

The street lights flickered on. The appearance of artificial light stole my eyes and attention away. When I returned, the brittle pseudo-conversation had already broken. Now, even our usual tendency to speak was no longer enough to sustain any sort of exchange.

We walked slowly. If we walked any faster, we would be acknowledging that it was uncomfortable.

My phone vibrated. I knew that the moment I took out my phone, the conversation that is dead will remain dead. That caused me to hesitate for a moment, but I whipped it out from my pocket regardless.

I received mail from Taishi-kun. He thanked me for giving him the chance to look around at a high school, and he said that he's definitely super excited to go to high school. Of course, he didn't mention exactly what he ogled at nor exactly why he was being so excited because that would be weird, or maybe I was just jumping to conclusions. I replied to him, repeating what I said much earlier, telling him to definitely not to pester his older sister about it too much.

Taishi-kun's reply to my reply came rather quickly.

 _Sorry, Hikigaya-san. That's one piece of advice that I'm going to ignore because I still believe that you'd do the same._

I put my phone back in my pocket. Taishi-kun sure had a weird opinion of me. I'm pretty sure that I can control my blathering even if I do fire words like a machine gun at times.

I glanced over at Isshiki. She had a perfectly neutral expression on. Yet, dissatisfaction stirred up within me even though she quite literally doing nothing.

To automatically become displeased upon coming into contact with someone was awfully immature. Imagine if my life was some poorly written story. The main character getting peeved just from the antagonist walking in without any justification would be dumb.

What would be my justification? Maybe it was because of the way she speaks that seemed to suck up to people. No, I should have been used to things like that since, well, I do that sometimes as well (opinion of frequency varies by person). Maybe I was looking down on her because of poor leadership skills. No, I couldn't deny that they were at the very least adequate, if not decent, given that we got this far without much trouble.

Those reasons all felt superficial. They orbited the core issue from a safe, comfortable distance. Just thinking on my own like this, without anything to push me, won't make me find the answer anytime soon.

There's no good reason to leave such a thing hidden under wraps, not when it's thorny. It's like tossing broken glass into a garbage can, and when the janitor retrieves the bag, she would cut herself with the unseen shards.

It seems like being a slacker runs in the family. I should've dealt with this earlier before we, you know, got this far in preparing for the event. It seemed like riding the wave wasn't enough to solve anything.

We reached a busier commercial section of the city with shops and restaurants everywhere. Given how close it was to dinner time, the latter places were filling up.

"You know what, I'm hungry," I spoke up.

Isshiki turned around and looked at me in blank confusion.

"Why don't you and I get into that café over there and get something to eat?"

* * *

References

Hikigaya, H. (20XX). Deciphering delusions: A comparison of Tamanawan linguistics to modern Japanese. _Ruminations of a Cynical Loner, 17_ (2): 801-829.


	7. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5: Admittedly, there are times when Hikigaya Komachi has it all wrong.**_

The café made me a bit high-strung.

The warm orange lighting made the place feel dim and lit by candles even though you could easily see from one end of the place to the other. Many parts of the room were finely crafted out of wood — the floors, the tables, the doors, parts of the wall — and those that weren't, like the counter, were made out of polished granite. All sorts of western paintings were hung up on the wall from landscape that even I could appreciate to the funny shapes of abstract art that made me tilt my head. The patrons here chattered at a very respectable volume — absolutely no shouting or screaming. Their voices harmonized with Beethoven's Für Elise (okay not really, it was more like you could still enjoy the piece despite the talking).

It's not like anyone was in here wearing dress shirt and pants, but this place was a little too much for me. What was the right word for it? Mature? Respectful?

Isshiki and I had already been waited and our food had been ordered. Now we were left sitting on ornate chairs facing each other with our arms on the ornate table, taking occasional sips from coffee in the ornate cups. I unashamedly put loads of sugar and cream in mine because I'm just an immature little girl who can't appreciate the fragrant aroma of coffee and not because I was used to sugary MAX coffee or anything.

"Ah, this really is a nice place. Good taste, little sis," said Isshiki while nodding.

"Sorry, but I just picked a place at random," I said while shrugging.

The coffee had come just a few minutes ago, so it was still piping hot. I warmed up my hands by touching the sides of the mug.

Now then, let's lay our cards out on the table, while the mug is still hot and while things are still warm.

"Okay, then, Isshiki. Do you know why we stopped by here?" I said.

"It's because you're hungry, right?" Isshiki immediately answered back, "If that's all, then that's good."

Isshiki leaned back on her chair and stretched. She was giving me a chance to deescalate, to laugh it all off. I rejected her offer. I grabbed my cup and took a deep sip. I placed down the cup with enough force to rattle the pepper and salt.

"Let's talk business, Isshiki," I abruptly said.

Isshiki raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless corrected her posture.

She adopted the kind of neutral smile used at meetings and asked, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Oh, it's not much," I said as I placed my hands together, "But that's exactly the problem."

"Huuuuh?"

Isshiki made a weird face, with one eye half-closed and mouth hanging wide open, to go along with her astonishment.

"I don't get what you're saying at all. I mean we're super busy," spoke Isshiki.

"That's just the thing. I'm not doing enough. You're not giving me enough. Even though it's 'super busy'," I retorted.

Isshiki sighed.

"I thought I already said that I've got everything under control, that's why. You got a problem with that or something?"

Isshiki dispensed with any niceties, real or falsified, and glared at me. It seemed that I managed to prick her where it was uncomfortable, and her attention has been piqued. It was time to show her what she got wrong.

"Isshiki, get off your high horse, already."

"What?"

Isshiki narrowed her eyes, laid down the side of her right upper arm on the table and leaned forward.

Isshiki Iroha was undeniably stuffed to the brim with pride and selfishness. She got the things she wanted her way and on the backs of others. The latter thing would imply that she did trust others, but it did not imply to what extent that was. The way I see it, she held, at least in me, very little trust and very little confidence. That's why I always ended up with those small-time jobs.

I spoke with a heavy voice, "You know, I don't dislike doing less work. In fact, I would love to laze around on a kotatsu all day. But what I don't like way more than I like that is being treated like some kid who can't do anything."

"What the heck? Just what are you getting at?"

But I couldn't imagine that Isshiki wasn't purposely giving me those underling-tier jobs without any other considerations or motives. If she was treating me just like any other unimportant person, then she might have at least gotten me involved with the rehearsals of the play, a critical part of the event, somehow. But my involvement never even came close to that of Yukino-san's and Yui-san's. No, she was purposely avoiding putting me in a position that could greatly affect how the event will come to be.

"You were trying to marginalize me, weren't you? Trying to make yourself the big woman while making me just a teeny tiny girl?"

My tone was getting more and more bitter. But I didn't let it subside. I wielded it.

"I've got some news for you. We're all part of the same team, therefore we all share the same burden. Trying to minimize me isn't going to do anything except make it harder for yourself too."

The waiter came with our food. A seafood paella was placed in front of me while a chicken Caesar salad was placed in front of Isshiki. Neither of us reached for our forks. Neither of us moved an inch as we glared at each other while waiting for the waiter to move away.

"...Why do you think that?" slowly spoke Isshiki.

"Well, let's see," I said as I crossed my arms.

Sometimes it was difficult to take a good, hard look at yourself because you insist that everything you do is good or you try to rationalize away all the bad things. Therefore, I will give Isshiki the rapid fire of criticism that she so desperately needs.

"From the very first day, it always seemed like there just to prance around and watch everyone do everything while not having a clue about any of it yourself. You lean on my brother and, well, everyone else as well like a walking cane."

I paused and sipped my coffee. It was way too sweet. It was basically sugared milk at this point.

I continued, "But I noticed that you were completely different towards me. Far from leaning on me, you treat me like I don't exist. The stupid little things that you made me do pretty much screamed at me that you don't trust me or find me incompetent."

Again, I took a sip of my coffee. I needed my tongue to be wet and my brain to be sugared up to get my thoughts in order and for my words to be straight.

"I don't care if you actually do need me to do anything. The fact that you got that pamphlet mostly done and that you're president at all shows that you probably can do it if you try. But this whole thing bothers me because there's something that I don't get."

"What you don't get...?" muttered Isshiki.

"What the heck's your goal in all this?"

It was difficult to tell what the self-centered reliance and the exclusion of just one person were trying to achieve. Although, it does sound rather close to what plain old hatred is. Or it could be due to something else. It doesn't seem like anyone else really finds it a problem, nor have things gotten bad enough for the whole project to be compromised.

Yet, whatever her goal was, there was an even deeper issue.

"Well, Isshiki, that's just one thing," I said, staring at her straight on, "There's something else as well."

Isshiki Iroha had always put on a cutesy smile like a mask to get what she wanted. Whatever she said, whatever she did, it always seemed like there was some other reason for it. Who knows what she was thinking? Has she ever once dropped her act?

Therein lies her second bigger problem. Not only did she make no effort to get to know me, she wouldn't let anyone get to know her either. She was an enigma realized, an illusion manifested. With Isshiki, it wasn't a yes nor a no, but a maybe.

It was not something unconscious or unintentional. No, she knew exactly what she was doing.

What I needed to say to this arrogant and two-faced girl came naturally from my lips.

"Isshiki Iroha, you aren't genuine."

Isshiki's eyes grew wide. Her previous hard glare was all but tossed out in (dis)favour of a look of terrified surprise.

It seemed that I got to her. Let's see what inane retort Isshiki will pull out now.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, I screwed up!

However, Isshiki immediately yelled that and buried her face in her arms on the table. The clatter she caused was large enough to tip over both the salt shaker and the pepper shaker.

It was my turn to be surprised. That wasn't at all the reaction I was expecting.

"Darn it, darn it, darn it, darn it, darn it, darn it, darn—"

"Uh, are you okay, Isshiki?" I weakly asked.

Isshiki looked up at me with a puffed up, pouty face that was, oddly enough, completely free of resentment.

"I think we have a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge misunderstanding here," said Isshiki.

"Um, what exactly am I not getting?" I said in confusion.

Isshiki went back to sitting somewhat more couthly (that is, at the very least, no longer resting her head on the table). She cleared her throat loudly.

"So, uh, how do I even begin? Um, let's see..."

Isshiki scratched her head and looked off to the side for a while. For some reason, I was feeling a little nervous, as if I was listening to a confession from a criminal.

"Well, um, your brother — Senpai — he always helps me out and stuff. I mean, he always ends up doing it even though he... he... what's the word...?"

"Is completely lazy and would rather not work at all if it can be helped?" I quickly interrupted before I could become disillusioned and falsely believe that my brother would be willing to work hard all of the time.

Isshiki cleared her throat again before continuing, "Right. And he always complains and stuff while we're doing it. So, um, maybe it's always been super annoying for him or something but he still does it and stuff."

That's true. Hikigaya Hachiman would rather lay back on the couch alone at home and play Trails of Cold Steel on his Vita-chan, but if confronted with a problematic situation, he would unwillingly, yet thoroughly, try to clean it up — for better or for worse.

"That is, he always puts himself through annoying things for me, so..."

Isshiki looked up at me like a puppy.

"Well, his sister turned out to be only slightly different from him in the one way that I completely got wrong," said Isshiki as she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Oh," I faintly gasped.

There was something I learned about in class: the difference between beliefs and attitudes. Beliefs were things that you thought were objectively true and were based on your understanding of facts. Attitude is how you emotionally think about that belief, like whether you like it or not.

"I see now."

The way I saw it was that Isshiki didn't care to listen to me, thus she didn't encourage me to speak out during meetings.

The way I saw it was that Isshiki didn't trust in my ability, so she never assigned me any difficult tasks.

Or, rather...

What if it was the case that I had completely ruled something out without considering it at all?

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaa!" I exclaimed as I buried my head in my arms on top of the table.

I remember back in the summer when Yui-san came over to get her dog and my brother tried to brush off a certain opportunity like the pessimistic dunce he was. Not only did I have to drop hints, but I also had to give him a push.

Today, it was I who needed a push of a different sort. No, I needed a kick. What was I, some dense harem protagonist? Was I just a dumb middle school girl who shouldn't yet be leaving mommy's arms?

I awkwardly remained like that for a while. Isshiki remained silent verbally. I heard her clothes shifting around probably uncomfortably.

"Our food is getting cold," stated Isshiki.

"Right. Let's dig in," I replied.

I got back up and started poking at my pasta. It quickly turned into a ravenous shove-all-matter-down-throat session after I realized that I was really, really hungry.

My vision was good, but if I had glasses, I would seriously consider giving them a good soapy wash.

* * *

By the time we left the café, night had fallen and the street lights had switched on. The cool air didn't feel unpleasant at all, probably because I have all these calories in my stomach to burn for heat.

Yet, the pleasantness was only physical. Isshiki and I walked down the sidewalk with an awkward mood between us.

Both Isshiki and I were stuffing our faces in such a disgusting way that a few heads turned to look at us. I sure hope that none of my classmates were there.

Because we were so into it, we didn't really say much to each other, other than "pass the salt" or "get me another napkin".

As you can imagine, we lost our chance to warm up, forcing that event to happen now, during this physically pleasant but mentally uncomfortable walk.

"That was a... good choice of restaurant or something..." muttered Isshiki.

"Um, like I said, I totally chose it randomly, so..."

Yeah, this wasn't good. Come on, get it together, Komachi!

"Anyway... Isshiki!" I spoke up and stopped.

Isshiki walked three steps ahead before stopping and turning around with a confused face.

For the past while, I had been thinking of Isshiki as an enemy encounter rather than a party member. For some reason, I had decided that I needed to show her that I meant business. But now, all that just seemed silly.

"Isshiki Iroha," I said with a strong voice.

What does Hikigaya Komachi do when she meets someone who was similar to her own age? Unlike her brother, she usually does, and should have in the beginning done, the following.

"Let's just forget about all that dumb crap. We've got a lot to do in the short time we have left, so let's make this event a super success! Agreed?"

I stuck out my right fist.

Taking the cue, Isshiki transitioned to a smirk that was devilishly cute.

"Agreed," she said.

With her own right fist, she bumped it into mine. Thus, a beautiful friendship between men was born that day, except that neither were us were men and that we were far from being close friends and were closer to just below acquaintances at this stage. Wait, that meant my comment was completely wrong.

We began walking down the street again, side-by-side. It was now possible for small talk to happen. Thank goodness. No one living on this round Earth likes being unable to talk to someone who was right there next to you, unless they were some criminal or something.

"By the way, Isshiki, unless I'm misunderstanding something again, you were giving me some 'special' treatment. Why was that?"

"Hehehe, just call me Iroha, Komachi. Well, Senpai probably still thinks of me just as some little runt. Maybe that can fixed if I get through to his little sister that he sometimes talks about," deviously spoke Isshiki.

Wow. Even now, Iroha was cheeky, shrewd woman. I couldn't let that slide by me now, could I?

"If you're wanting me to do something about that, then the answer is no. Onii-chan is only allowed to pamper me, after all," I fired back.

I pointed my thumb toward my chest. To that, Iroha stuck out her tongue in displeasure.

"What a tough little sister, but it must run in the family," said Isshiki with an exaggerated frown, "Whatever. Looks like I'll have to win over even the little sister."

I crossed my arms and gave her a challenging look.

"We'll see about that."


	8. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6: With complete bias, Hikigaya Komachi would win every single time**_

Time had rampaged onwards, regardless of how stressed we all began to feel, as it crept closer and closer to the deadline. Because of that, I had gotten into the state of flow and pretty much ignored everything as I worked tirelessly doing...well, if I were to describe all of it, it would fill another chapter. For better or for worse (and it's most likely for the better), Iroha thrust open the Komachi helper floodgates and let loose the tasks that she had been holding back from me. And boy, was there a lot.

Today was the day as indicated by the calendar in the student council room with many red circles.

Of course, handling the preparations at, uh, freaking four in the morning still took a heavy toll on us all. It was only at nine, when we got things in the rhythm, when I could finally step back and appreciate it all. Thus, after I stretch, I literally did take a step back and observed the bustling event I helped make.

Even though I had been part of the preparations, things sure ballooned up to a scale that made my jaws drop. It had just sunk in.

The crowd was dense and packed. People almost certainly bumped shoulders with each other as they navigated between stands and attractions. The ruckus of conversation, cheers and screaming almost entirely drowned out any songs and music that the attractions played.

It was no simple block event. It was a festival.

The festivities stretched from the school's courtyard to the streets left and right. You couldn't see every part of the event with just a single glance. If you wanted to do so, you would have to get your feet moving.

"Umm... Onee-san, can you please tell me where the dango stand is?"

A teeny tiny boy came up to me and asked that with slightly nervous eyes.

"Right in the courtyard, little guy. It's near the takoyaki stand," I replied.

The boy looked around with a puzzled expression. It seemed like I wasn't clear enough.

I walked up to him, grabbed his shoulders, and gently twirled him around so that he was facing the right direction.

"Do you see it now?" I asked.

"Huh... Ah! I see it! Dango!" the boy said excitedly, "Thank you very much Onee-san! Let's go, Hiro!"

The boy's friend, Hiro, came out of nowhere. With noodles hanging out from his mouth, Hiro met up with his friend, and off they went to fill their stomachs. Ah, being called "Onee-san" always hits me right in the soft part of my heart (you don't want to know what the hard part is like)!

Looks like everything was in tip-top shape. There was nothing pressing left to do except to entertain the guests. We had achieved our fairytale ending. This concludes the story.

The end.

* * *

"Oh goddess, SHOCK! Where art thou, SHOCK-sama!?"

A great flabbergasted fattening voice bellowed out in the auditorium. The glutton in question, Zaimokuza Yoshiteru, paced back and forth with his cheeks glistening from sweat.

I had retreated here to eat my lunch after a hard morning's work guiding guests around and overall being a good girl. Believe me, it takes a lot of effort to be a perfect 10/10 Komachi.

By coming here, I had also hoped to refill my love meter as well by feasting my eyes on the adorable little kids as they rehearsed for the play. Unfortunately, there seems to be a less-than-minor problem, and the rehearsal wasn't working out so well. The kids were, more or less, sitting around and taking an extended break. Maybe it had something to do with whatever Zaimokuza just said.

I asked him, "What seems to be the problem?"

"You! Hachiman's little sister!" bellowed Zaimokuza as he pointed at me with his flabby arm, "The performance cannot proceed like this! Because there is an unwanted abseeeeeeeeeeeeence! C-Could it be!? Has the organization caught up to me!? My right arm! It's trying to tell me something!"

Why was Zaimokuza over here again? Who put him in charge of the kids? I swear, if my life was like a book and you were to flip back a few pages, I doubt the word "Zaimokuza" would have showed up even once. Is this some special skill of his, to show up out of nowhere?

More importantly, he said something about an unwanted absence. Did he just mean that one of the actors was missing?

"Um, did one of them get lost or something?" I asked with a strained smile.

"Umu! Indeed, you are a sharp one. As expected of my apprentice's little sister," said Zaimokuza as he nodded repeatedly in awe.

It wasn't really that awe-inspiring since he was the one who said it first.

"Which one of them is missing?"

"Uh, the one who is playing the goddess SHOCK-sama. Her name is Ogura. She has a light brown short bob-cut and is really quiet and I'm really worried about her..." said Zaimokuza in a really docile voice all of a sudden.

It seemed like that nonsense he was spouting earlier was, in fact, not actually nonsense.

One of the kids bounced over here. It was Kawasaki Keika.

"Ah, Ogura-chan! She is at the food!"

Keika gave me the sweetest smile as she said that. Oh, you.

"Hmm... 'the food' probably means the food vendors," I murmured.

Keika stared at me with big eyes for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Then, that means the courtyard."

It was the same place that the little guy and his friend Hiro had went to earlier. Wow, the path to finding Ogura-chan was already coming together!

"Ah! As caretaker, guardian, daycare nanny, sentinel, babysitter and paladin, I shall take this responsibility unto myself and partake in this fetch quest!" bellowed Zaimokuza.

Two of those words were not like the other. Although, because of his role, he shouldn't be wandering around and leaving these kids alone.

"Relax, Chuuni, I can take care of it," I said, "My break's pretty much done anyway."

"Eh? Ah, what a conundrum..." said Zaimokuza disheartenedly, "To reduce this from a party quest to a solo quest, no good, no good."

He seemed oddly fixated on Ogura-chan's wellbeing. I mean, it's good to be concerned, but I'm starting to get some creepy vibes.

At that moment, my brother came into an auditorium. He was frowning distastefully as if he had discovered that he had stepped on a piece of gum on the road. He sauntered over to Zaimokuza or at least tried to. The fat chuuni took the initiative (something that was no doubt rare of him) and rushed over to my brother.

"Haaaaachimaaaaaaan!"

"I saw your mail, dammit. Get your hands off of my shoulders."

My brother looked over at me and said, "You heard from this guy already?"

I nodded and replied, "I'm free right now, so I can help out."

He turned back and headed toward the door while beckoning for me to follow. That is, he completely ignored the existence of the chuunibiyou who was wishing him good luck. Smiling wryly, I waved goodbye to Zaimokuza and went out of the room.

I caught up to my brother, who already looked a little worn out. We began walking to the exit of the building.

"You're proactive today, you lazy bum," I said to him.

"Foolishness! I'm always proactive, especially when it comes to taking the easy way out and finding ways to give myself more breaks," he said sneeringly.

"Uh huh, you lazy bum."

"You give me a break on this, you little runt," he grunted as he flicked my forehead.

Kya! So painful!

"Isshiki's just been rather pushy today, so my bones are extra worked."

Doesn't he mean rather motivated? Regardless, the whip is being cracked even harder today.

He complained, "Ah, what the heck happened. It felt like my load suddenly shot up starting from a few days ago..."

"By the way Onii-chan," I spoke up, "Your chuuni friend is rather worried of that girl. What gives?"

"H-He's not my friend!"

The pure-hearted tsundere maiden Hikigaya Hachiman vigorously shook his head in denial.

He cleared his throat and said, "Uh, you sure you want to know?"

"Is it something disgusting?" I said while shrugging, "Don't worry, Komachi can handle it."

Trying to exude a professor-like aura, he crossed his arms and explained matter-of-factly, "You see, lolis are all the rage in anime, manga, light novels, visual novels, role-playing games, et cetera. Little sisters as well. Basically, if they look younger even if they're a hundred years old, they're in."

"You went off on an amazing tangent there, Onii-chan," I criticized, "And aren't you a little bold to be talking about the 'little sister' type character in front of your little sister?"

"No I'm not. This is the lead-up."

He cleared his throat before continuing, "Anyway, after experiencing all of these younger girls in anime and stuff, you would awaken what you think is 'fatherly instinct'. You go on anonymous image boards and post cute images of your favourite loli or little sister character and proclaim that, well, they're cute and that you shouldn't do lewd things to them. Like 'A-chan is for tender loving care' or something like that."

"Onii-chan, am I losing it for not understanding you or are you the one that's lost it?"

"But really, it's just the normal reaction to finding something cute. It's just that you've never really thought about it that deeply before until now since you're a guy. And 'fatherly instinct'? How do you even know that if you don't even, or will possibly never, have a kid of your own?"

"Just get to the point already, Onii-chan, because I didn't understand much of what you said so far."

"Zaimokuza, unfortunately, has huge troubles with separating anime and reality. I'm guessing he saw some moe anime, and the fuzzy feeling in his heart propelled him to do what he's doing now. But all of that is irrelevant, actually."

I placed my astonished face into my hands and, with my mouth muffled, spoke, "Then what was the point of saying all that?"

Ignoring me, my brother concluded, "I think that Ogura-chan probably did him a small favour like pick up something he dropped or helped him carry something, and he misunderstood it somehow. I guarantee you that tonight he'll be rolling around in his bed trying to forget his mistake."

I looked at my brother as if he were a worm, "Uh huh. Yeah, I definitely shouldn't have asked. By the way, Onii-chan, all of that was unusually long-winded and detailed, don't you think? Should I be aware of something?"

The pure-hearted tsundere maiden was, of course, dishonest, so he shut his mouth really quickly and walked a little faster.

* * *

My brother and I stood before the school gates, and gave ourselves a quick orientation of the whole courtyard.

The courtyard wasn't so big that you would lose your breath were you to sprint across the whole area while it was empty. Yet, the numerous food-stands lined up in rows and the scores of people eating, talking and wandering around created a noisy maze to navigate through. I guess you could consider this a continuously-morphing labyrinth as well since the openings to squeeze by between the wandering folk also shifted around as people walked.

Clearly, this search wasn't going to be easy. A short girl in a sea of adults and almost-adults fits the metaphor of a needle in the haystack scarily well.

"We're definitely splitting up," I ordered.

"You're so quick to get the hell away from me," said my brother with a wry smile.

"Don't be silly, Onii-chan," I spoke while shrugging, "There's always a reason for you to be alone!"

Although that doesn't mean that always being a solitary stick in the sand was always a good thing. No, no.

"Right... well, let's call each other if one of us finds her."

"'Kay. See you later, Onii-chan."

My brother headed off to search the east side of the courtyard. Therefore, my search area was to be the west side.

I shoved my way past all of the guests, or at least I tried to. Unfortunately, I also counted as a cute little girl who was smaller than everyone else, so I was easily pushed around, unintentionally or not. I weaved my way around each strip of stands, keeping my eyes peeled.

The thick crowd lessened only at the more unpopular area. I broke free from all of the pushing and finally got a bit of personal space around me.

I didn't see Ogura-chan in that brief search. I might've missed her while I was preoccupied with not getting squished. Ogura-chan has got to be even smaller than I was. I hope that she didn't hurt herself in any way.

"Oh? Komachi? Are you getting a little hungry, now?"

I turned around at that higher-pitched voice. Iroha's mischievous face met me, with her impish grin and narrowed eyes. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't getting any blackmail material out of the current situation.

I cut straight to the chase, "You seen Ogura-chan around here?"

Iroha pondered, "That kid? Hmm, no, not at all. Why?"

I placed one hand on my hip and said, "Well, she's lost, and she's needed for the rehearsals, so I'm kind've busy right now trying to find her."

"Is that so? Well, I aaaaam a little free right now, so I guess I can help you out," said Iroha matter-of-factly.

I looked around. The two of us who were standing still acted as a disruptive barrier to the vast stream of patrons frolicking about, engaging in their merry-making. They twisted their bodies to avoid us.

"Uh, wouldn't Miss President definitely have some important things to oversee, especially at a busy time like now."

"Anyway, let's find that little girl."

This cheeky girl. The way she wanted to avoid doing work is a little too reminiscent to a certain someone. Remember children, choose your role models carefully.

Like a mature adult, I respected Iroha's decision to play hooky, no matter what I thought of it (in actuality, I thought very little of it anyway). I resumed my search, now accompanied with extra baggage. I told Iroha to search on the right while I searched on the left.

"Uuuuu, how are we supposed to find such a little girl with all of these people... Maybe I shouldn't have made this event so big..." moaned Iroha.

"Oh, don't be silly, Iroha. It's good to get outside of your comfort zone. It helps you build character. Your character definitely needs building."

Iroha shot me a dirty look.

"Say, you're always being even harsher on me than your brother. That's strange as heck."

"As a kind and caring little sister, Komachi can't help but discipline those who are being bad so that they don't grow up to be trashy and useless," I said in my most motherly voice.

"Uh huh. Right."

Iroha turned away from me to focus on her search.

Even after that day in the café, we still mixed like oil and water. But thinking it from another perspective, we would make for a superb salad dressing.

Our search eventually led us to confront an ice-cream monster. More specifically, we came upon an Ogura-chan whose face was drenched in the sticky liquids of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.

* * *

Iroha and I escorted Ogura-chan back to the auditorium. It was a sugary-sweet experience. We had to make sure Ogura-chan was eating her ice cream properly, and we had to continuously wipe up her face and clothes when strawberry-flavoured liquid dripped onto her clothes. Truly, the journey back was sugary, sticky and disgusting.

"Aaaahhh, my hands are all gross," complained Iroha as we reached the auditorium's door.

"Let's not get the doorknob sticky now," I said, "Now, where did I put my last napkin?"

With the tips of my fingers, I carefully withdrew a paper napkin from my pocket without dirtying my clothes. Once I got it out, I didn't use it to wipe my hands, which were so sticky that the napkin would be worthless in trying to clean them. Rather, used the napkin as a makeshift glove to open the door in front of us without transferring the residue onto the doorknob.

I beckoned Ogura-chan to enter, and she did so. I followed after her, or at least I tried to. Iroha tried to enter at the same time as me, and we collided with each other.

"Geh."

"Ah."

By some distortion in the laws of physics governing this world and possibly aided by the will of the mangaka Yabuki Kentaro, our sticky hands flailed about following the collision, and they ended up on the opposite person's body — my hands on Isshiki's chest on Isshiki's hands on my thighs.

"Nooooooo, what the heck!?" exclaimed Iroha.

"Hey, get off of me with those sticky hands!" I yelled.

Too late. The damage was done. Even as we withdrew from each other, saccharine pink residue was left on our clothes.

Iroha looked down at her shirt in distress and said, "Eeeeehhhhh!? I can't appear in front of the public looking like this!"

"What the heck, Iroha? Why'd you have to walk into me like that?" I chastised.

"Huuuh? What do you mean 'why'? You were holding the door open for me, weren't yooooou?"

"Isn't it just straight up common sense to watch where you're going?"

We placed our hands on our hips and glared at each other. After a few seconds, we realized that we had dirtied our clothes again, but again, we were a bit late on that realization.

"Aaaaaahhh, my good clothes... and I was going to show this to Hayama-senpai too..." groaned Iroha, "Komachi, I blame you for everything."

"...I don't even know where to start," I said in exasperation.

With a pitter-patter of footsteps, Ogura-chan rushed back over to us.

With a stern look and an ice cream-coated mouth, she said, "No fighting! No fighting!"

Iroha and I glanced at each other momentarily in embarrassment. Figuring that we were wasting our time, we pretended that nothing had happened and went inside the auditorium.

We needed to back to our duties in managing the event. Besides, I'll just get Iroha to pay me back in some way some other time.

* * *

"Eeeehh, what do I wear now?"

"Just change into your gym uniform or something, Iroha."

"But it looks so blaaaaand..."

* * *

"Ah, Komachi-san."

"Yukino-san? What's up?"

"Have you, by any chance, seen Isshiki-san anywhere? I need to report something to her."

"She's in the student council room. Ah, but you should definitely knock before you enter. And don't bring any guys with you as you enter, either."

"...What strange advice. I'll keep that in mind, I suppose."

* * *

"Oh, Yui-san. You looking for something?"

"Ah, yeah. Iroha-chan needs to be over at the side that Kaihin Sogo High is in charge of right now, but I can't find her anywhere..."

"Oh man, that's bad. But I think I have a good idea of where she is."

* * *

"Hey, Chuuni, why are you wandering around like that?"

"Ah... the little sister... the great samurai such as mineself hath been faced with a great revelation about the younger fairer folk as of late..."

"So you got rejected by Ogura-chan?"

"Geh, to put it to words such as those! Not exactly, but something as such transpired that hath severed the thin heartstrings of mine. Please, just tell the president of this establishment that I am no longer fit for my duties..."

"Tell Iroha that you're taking a break? Got it."

* * *

Throughout the day, people began asking me more and more where Iroha was or to relay to her a message. Since when did I become Iroha's secretary? I mean, she already had one in the first place. By late afternoon, I just gave up doing most of the other things that I was supposed to be doing and took on that messenger role.

Why didn't she just make herself more easily found? As I thought, Iroha still had quite a way to go.

Still, I couldn't deny that Iroha had done a decent job for the things that she _did_ do.

I walked along the street where the game booths were located, simply monitoring the situation and providing guest services, now that things have been in the groove for a while.

Everywhere was loud. There was not a single space where it was quiet enough to hear a wallet drop (so hold onto that thing, please). Quiet and loud were always words with a relative relationship, but at the same time, it was difficult for a person to consider rock music to be quiet relative to a jet plane when their ears would be bleeding in either situation.

My simultaneous search for Iroha and helping of guests had led me to become weary, so I began looking for a quiet place to rest. Of course, "quiet" didn't feel like it existed here, so I compromised. I, instead, looked for a _relaxing_ place to rest.

...I must be going crazy from the fatigue. Only my brother and Yukino-san would play word games normally, like I just did with myself.

Relaxing meant sitting down, and so, I looked for a bench or table. I happened upon a seating area that was oddly less crowded despite the population density of this place. Either there was something about this particular place that was unappealing, or the writer of my life got lazy.

Sitting alone at one of the tables was Isshiki Iroha.

"Yeah, he or she really is lazy," I concluded.

"Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh? That was so totally random," remarked Iroha as she looked up at my approaching self.

I sighed to myself and sat down right in front of Iroha. She was busy typing away on a laptop.

"I have a mountain of things to deliver to you as your loyal messenger," I said with a smirk, "But I see that you are busier than I assumed, master."

"Ew, stop. Sometimes I wish that I'm a queen, but hearing your role-play is so totally gross, so just stop," vomited Iroha.

"So, why are you here instead of in the student council room or somewhere where someone can actually find you?"

"Oh shut uuuuup. You put the answer into your question already."

I leaned back on my chair and began looking random things up on my phone. I hadn't had a chance to do this all day. Across from me, Iroha silently continued typing.

Unusually, I felt no real need to keep the conversation going. In front of Iroha, I let myself indulge in the interconnected webs. Oh, it looks like Saekano is getting another season.

I kept at it until my eyes got tired from... everything. I peered over at Iroha. She gave a great big stretch and moaned softly. She loosened her whole body and went limp for a second. Then, she resumed typing at a slower pace, but with no less vigour.

"You know what, you proved me wrong, for once. Even an evil girl like you with no redeeming features can do something meaningful once in a while."

"...There's so many things wrong with what you just said that I can't even sum it up with just 'gross'," said Iroha with a frown.

Deja vu. Didn't I say something like that earlier?

"No, really. Throw Komachi a bone here. It's getting to be late, and even I'm feeling the drain. What's up?" I asked.

"Nothiiiing. I'm just, like, well— I guess I'm just carrying my own bags for once," said Iroha while shrugging.

"Oh, how noble of you, master," I remarked dryly.

"And don't worry. Leave it to meeee. I think you had enough on your plate as it is," added Iroha.

I rapidly shook my head and said, "No no, it's not about that. I was just curious."

"Same," replied Iroha, "It really is a pain in the butt. I wonder, when do the happy times kick in?"

"Never. You're destined to struggle the moment you take up something like this," I replied.

Working hard at what was essentially volunteer work was a whole different ballgame than doing work for a reward. Not only are you working for nothing, you, yourself, chose to do so. While there could be non-monetary, intangible benefits, if your own well-being were to be prioritized, working for a reward was far better.

To get a net benefit, to have something meaningful overwhelm the inconveniences rather than the other way around, you would need to trick yourself. That is, for something to be meaningful, you had to dig as far as you could until you either do hit meaning, or you decide that digging is futile and ship in meaning from elsewhere.

"Is that so?" pensively spoke Iroha.

She shut her laptop off. Evidently she was finished, whatever that definition of "finished" was.

"Then, I guess it's an eternal struggle," nonchalantly spoke Iroha, "People say that it's better if it's harder, but I guess it doesn't matter. Because, it's sour in the end, anyway."

"Hey, Iroha—"

"I'm missing something. It's just barely out of reach."

Iroha leaned back and gazed up at the sky. She looked more fatigued than appropriate even for one who had been working all day. Indeed, she looked like she was in need of a sip of MAX Coffee.

"But."

Iroha firmly spoke up.

"I'll sort myself out. I can't even look back without crying right now."

Iroha sprawled her upper body on the table like a spider.

"For the spoiled little me, maybe my genuine thing isn't what was obvious but that one thing that's unobtainable."

I wasn't a mind reader. The fatigue was definitely getting to Iroha as much as it was to me since she started spewing out barely-understandable sophistry. But I did understand one thing.

"'Unobtainable'? Says who?"

* * *

Oh, I felt so dead. Every minute spent awake and not sleeping felt like torture.

Night hit us in the face. Our muscles, sore from the cleanup, had been slogging through the pain just moments ago. However, when someone pointed out that it was sure getting dark and that they had countless anime to catch up on and that they wanted to go home (at which someone else chastised him for using the same kind of complaint for the nth time), the sleepiness kicked in for everyone. We put the last things away, said our goodbyes, and went on our separate, drowsy ways.

Ahead of me was Yukino-san, who gave a cat-like yawn (so cute!). Yui-san was holding onto her hand to make sure that she wouldn't run into a pole — or at least that was her reasoning. To prove that she was doing so, Yui-san yawned reflexively after Yukino-san did, prompting her to crash right into a garbage can.

"Yuigahama-san... I don't really mind, so you can stop lying about it."

"Uuuu... I'm sorry..."

With me was Iroha and my brother. They exchanged unpleasant pleasantries.

"Isshiki, now you owe me big time. What do you think of that, huh?"

"Senpai, fine. Next time we go for a little 'practice', I can treat you again. I meeeean, I don't mind. In faaaact, we can add another one to my jacket."

Iroha slapped the left part of her stomache. The crisp crushing of paper could be heard.

"I-I don't think that's necessary... I-I mean, any more is... how about we consider ourselves even," stuttered my brother.

Iroha shook her head and said, "No, no, senpai. It'll be fun for you to 'help' me again."

"Onii-chan," I interjected, "What kind of totally uncute things is this girl making you do this time?"

"Who's uncute!?" cried Iroha.

"Just some stuff," my brother replied, "I don't really mind because a little of it is my responsibility, anyway."

Iroha looked a little stunned for a moment. Then, she sighed as if she was giving in.

"Senpai, don't treat me like some sort of mistake. Even I can get a little hurt if it feels like you're being forced to do something."

This time it was my brother's turn to go wide-eyed.

"Huh? Is that true?" said my brother as he crossed his arms to think.

Iroha puffed her cheeks. I laughed loud enough to make Iroha look my way.

"Hahaha, you really are uncute, unlike the totally cute me," I said with a grin.

Iroha didn't fire back a jab at me. She frowned, appearing genuinely upset.

"That's not something that I can change so easily," groaned Iroha.

"W-Well..." my brother started.

Iroha and I turned our curious eyes towards him.

"I-I mean, it's not so much that you aren't cute or are cute. I mean, I can't deny it so, I'm trying not to spoil— I-I mean, imagining you just wobbling around would drive me nuts..."

"Onii-chan, just what the heck are you trying to say?"

"Eh...? Cute...?"

I turned towards Iroha. She was already coughing and clearing her throat several times.

"Is that a confession? I'm sorry, but just not ready to entrust myself to someone as lazy as yourself, not until I get some more experience in handling stupidly weird guys like you. Thanks and goodbye."

Iroha turned away with a pout. Contrary to her supposed farewell, she still stuck with us.

I could tell that this was some recurring shtick that the two of them did. I didn't feel particularly surprised. Rather, I realized something.

Iroha was exactly the type of girl that my brother would consider a bitch and avoid at all costs. Yet, the two of them today had an undeniably comfortable relationship where they poked at each other with harmless needles. They were opposites of each other, yet they had some sort of common ground that was hard to put a finger on.

It made me a little jealous.

I gazed forward at the two girls that were one year older than Iroha and were the same age as my brother. They, too, held that common ground with him.

I wonder, just how shiny or how sour was that common thing? Yes, to me, it was a little enviable, because I haven't come across it for myself. Rather, there was never a need for me to have it. Whatever it was, there was something that was equal to or greater than that common thing.

Fifteen years.

"Iroha, you have a long, long way to go. Keep at it."

Iroha turned to me. She showed me her trademarked impish grin, befitting a girl who enjoys dancing around you in circles.

"Make sure you get over to Sobu High at all costs because I'll make sure our days are very, veeeery long in the clubroom."

I replied, "Oh stop. If you make us overdose in Iroha, then I'll be forced to sell my patented Komachi medicine."

My brother scratched his head and spoke, "Isshiki, you aren't even a part of our club. Well, it doesn't matter, I guess."


End file.
